r-.  ''^_ 


CLASS-BOOK 


OF 


BIBLICAL  HISTORY 


AND 


GEOGRAPHY: 

^VITH    NUMEROUS    MAPS 

BY 

PROF.    H.    S.    OSBORN,   LL.  D. 


AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 

150   NASSAU   STREET,    NEW    YORK. 


COPYRIGHT,  1890. 
AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY. 


I 


PREFACE. 


This  work  is  a  Class-Book  of  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testaments  treated  as  consecutive  history.  It 
includes  the  Jewish  history  of  the  centuries  between 
the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  beginning 
of  the  New. 

It  presents  those  important  elements  of  Biblical 
history  which  distinguish  it  from  all  other  histories 
and  which  illustrate  the  plan  and  the  purpose  of 
the  Bible  as  one  Book.  Whatever  modern  scholar- 
ship has  accomplished  to  aid  in  the  understanding 
of  the  original  languages  of  Scripture  in  important 
points  has  been  made  use  of,  and  whatever  monu- 
mental or  topographic  discoveries  would  contribute 
to  a  better  understanding  of  the  geography  or 
archaeology  of  the  text-statements  have  been  intro- 
duced where  the  history  required  it. 

The  history  of  the  centuries  between  the  close  of 
the  Old  Testament  canon  and  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era  includes  that  of  its  Jewish  literature. 
This    history   greatly   helps    us   to   appreciate   that 


4  PREFACE. 

singular  tenacity  with  which  the  earliest  Christian 
church  held  to  the  Mosaic  ritual. 

In  the  treatment  of  this  history  we  have  allowed 
no  space  for  mere  opinions  or  speculations.  The 
work  is  purely  historical,  and  its  text  is  illustrated 
only  by  that  which  is  pertinent  and  well  authenti- 
cated, in  either  geographic  or  archaeological  dis- 
covery. 

The  entire  subject  matter  is  divided  into  Periods 
and  chapters  and  subdivided  into  sections  and  para- 
graphs, the  latter  presented  in  such  a  form  as  gen- 
erally to  suggest  to  the  teacher  the  question  and  to 
the  reader  the  topic  of  the  paragraph. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PERIOD  I. 

THE   ANTE-DILUVIAN   ERA. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Creation,  Eden:  Chronology  and  its  Sources g 

CHAPTER  n. 

The  Significance  of  Names 17 

CHAPTER  in. 

The  Descendants  of  Adam 19 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Lineage  of  the  Patriarchs 22 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Flood  - - -     25 


PERIOD  II. 

THE   PATRIARCHAL   ERA  AFTER   THE   FLOOD   TO   THE 
DEATH   OF   JACOB. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Two  Ararats.     The  Sons  of  Japheth 27 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Sons  of  Ham.     Their  More  Recent  Names ;i^ 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Descendants  of  Shem.    Job 42 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Confusion  of  Tongues 46 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  History  of  Abram  and  his  Times 50 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Patriarchs  Isaac  and  Jacob 63 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Egyptian  Testimonies 76 

PERIOD  LII. 

THE   THEOCRACY   TO   THE   JUDGES. 

CHAPTER   I. 
The  Israelites  in  Egypt 80 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Physical  Geography  of  Sinai  and  the  Desert 86 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Entrance  into  Canaan gi 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Battles  of  the  Conquest 102 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Introduction  of  Idolatry 112 

PERIOD  IV. 

THE   PERIOD   OF  THE   JUDGES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

The  Nature  of  the  Office.     The  Chronology 115 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Scribes  of  the  Age 121 


CONTENTS.  7 

PERIOD  V. 

THE   PERIOD    OF   THE   KINGS   TO   THE   CAPTIVITY. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Origin  of  the  Monarchy.     Reign  of  Saul 124 

CHAPTER  n. 

The  Reigns  of  David  and  of  Solomon  — . 135 

CHAPTER    III. 

The  Division  of  the  Kingdom 140 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Analysis  of  the  Reigns  of  Judah  and  Israel 148 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Institution  of  the  Prophetical  Office 154 

PERIOD  VI. 

THE   CAPTIVITY   OF   JUDAH   TO   THE   CLOSE   OF   THE 
CANONICAL    PERIOD. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Various  Captivities 158 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Comparative  Religious  Spirit 164 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Captivity  Ended - —  172 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Canonical  Books.     Samaritan  Pentateuch 184 

CHAPTER  V. 

What  Was  Scripture?     The  Septuagiiit 194 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Origin  of  the  Talmud .—  207 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Concluding  Remarks 215 


8  CONTENTS. 

PERIOD  VIL 

THE   NEW   TESTAMENT   ERA. 
CHAPTER  I. 

From  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  his  PubUc  Ministry 220 

CHAPTER  n. 

The  Public  Ministry  of  our  Saviour 233 

CHAPTER  III. 

From  the  First  Passover  to  the  Second 237 

CHAPTER  IV. 

From  the  Second  Passover  to  the  Third 244 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Third  Passover 253 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Beginning  of  the  Christian  Church 268 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Gospel  for  Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews.     Paul's  First  Mission 280 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Second  and  Third  Missionary  Tours  of  Paul 293 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Paul  at  Rome.  The  Seven  Churches.    Colosse  and  Hierapolis 305 


BIBLICAL  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY. 


PERIOD    I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CREATION:   CHRONOLOGY  AND   ITS   SOURCES. 

1.  The  first  book  of  the  Bible,  which  is  Gene- 
sis, begins  with  a  history  of  the  Creation.  The 
words  "  In  the  beginning,"  with  which  it  opens,  give 
lis  no  chronological  data  by  which  we  are  able  to 
form  any  estimate  of  the  time.  Seven  divisions, 
called  "  days,"  have  special  appointments  assigned  to 
each  in  that  which  is  usually  called  "the  work  of 
creation,"  including  the  appointment  of  a  day  of 
rest. 

Before  the  beginning  of  the  days  there  exist- 
ed a  state  of  chaos,  the  earth  being  "  without  form 
and  void  "  and  darkness  being  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters. 

The  first  act  was  the  calling  into  being  Light. 


lO  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

The  appointment  of  Day  and  Night  closed  the  work 
of  the  first  day. 

The  separation  of  the  waters  beneath  "  the  firma- 
ment," or  expanse,  from  those  above  "  the  firma- 
ment "  constituted  the  work  of  the  second  day. 

The  formation  of  dry  land,  called  earth,  and  the 
appearance  of  vegetable  growth,  called  grass,  herbs, 
and  trees,  occurred  on  the  third  day. 

On  the  fourth  day  lights  appeared  in  "  the  firma- 
ment," or  expanse,  and  on  the  fifth  day  the  first  ani- 
mal life  moved  in  the  waters  and  birds  in  the  air, 
the  latter  called  "winged  fowl."  On  the  sixth  day 
the  earth  brought  forth  living  creatures,  "cattle, 
creeping  things,  and  beasts ;"  and  finally  man  was 
created,  made  after  God's  image,  with  dominion  over 
all  that  had  been  here  created. 

The  seventh  day  was  set  apart  as  a  day  of  rest,  a 
day  of  which  it  is  said,  "God  blessed  the  seventh 
day  and  sanctified  it."     Gen.  2  :  3. 

2.  After  the  creation  of  man  he  was  placed 
in  a  garden  which  the  Lord  God  planted  "  eastward 
in  Eden."  The  locality  of  Eden  is  unsettled,  but 
the  opinion  of  many  scholars  is  that  it  is  not  far  ojff 
from  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  garden  is 
described  as  "  eastward  in  Eden,"  and  it  is  supposed 
to  have  been  in  the  eastern  part  of  a  district  called 
Eden.  Prof.  Sayce  derives  Eden  from  an  ancient 
word  meaning  "  the  desert."  If  this  be  correct,  the 
garden  of  Eden  was  more  remarkable  for  its  contrast 
with  the  great  Syrian  desert  in  its  immediate  vicin- 


CREATION:   CHRONOLOGY  AKD    ITS   SOURCES.        II 

ity.  The  rivers  mentioned  by  name  are  Pison,  Gi- 
hon,  Hiddekel,  and  Euphrates,  The  Euphrates  at 
the  present  day  joins  the  ancient  Hiddekel,  which  is 
now  called  the  Tigris,  at  a  point  one  hundred  miles 
northwest  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  the  stream 
formed  by  the  union  of  the  two  rivers  is  called  the 
Sliat  el-Arab.  The  Pison  and  Gihon  have  not  been 
satisfactorily  identified. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  geographical 
condition  of  this  region  is  very  unlike  that  which 
existed  at  the  time  we  are  considering.  Dr.  De- 
litzsch  calculates  that  a  delta  of  between  forty  and 
fifty  miles  in  length  has  been  formed  since  the  sixth 
century  B.  C.  Prof.  Sayce  says  that  in  the  time  of 
Alexander,  B.  C.  323,  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates 
flowed,  by  different  mouths,  into  the  sea  (gulf),  as 
did  also  the  Eulasus,  or  modern  Karuii,  in  the  Assy- 
rian epoch.  ■^^ 

The  increment  of  land  about  the  delta  has  been 
found  to  be  a  mile  in  thirty  years,  which  is  about 
double  the  increase  of  any  other  delta,  owing  to  the 
nature  of  the  soil  over  which  the  rivers  pass.f  Under 
these  changes  it  is  probable  that  any  but  very  large 
streams  might  disappear. 

3,  The  Euphrates  passes  along  a  course  of 
more  than  1,780  miles  from  the  head-waters  of  the 
Moiirad  C]iai%  and  for  about  700  miles  it  passes 
through  a  nearly  level  country  on  the  east  of  the 

*  "Ancient  Empires  of  the  East,"  p.  95.     Pliny,  N.  H.,  VI.  130. 

t  "  Lippiiicott's  Gazetteer,"  1881. 

."j:  Pronounced  Moo-rad'-clii  {chi  as  in  China). 


12  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

great  Syrian  desert.  It  varies  in  depth  from  eight  to 
twenty  feet  to  its  junction  with  the  Tigris ;  after  its 
union  with  the  Tigris  its  depth  increases.  It  is  nav- 
igable for  about  700  miles  or  more  from  the  Persian 
Gulf. 

The  Tigris  is  shorter,  being  about  1,150  miles  in 
length,  and  navigable  for  rafts  for  300  miles.  Some 
of  the  extreme  head-sources  of  this  river  approach 
those  of  the  Euphrates  within  the  distance  of  two 
or  three  miles.  The  name  Hiddekel  is  the  same 
word  as  Hidiglat,  which  is  its  name  in  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions,  as  Purat  is  the  ancient  Assyrian  for 
Perath  in  Hebrew.* 

The  land  of  Havilah,  which  was  encompassed 
entirely  by  the  river  Pison,  is  unknown,  but  the 
"  Ethiopia "  encompassed  by  the  river  Gihon  is  in 
the  Hebrew  called  Cush,  and  recent  discoveries  have 
proved  that  in  very  early  times  Cushite  people  in- 
habited a  part  of  the  region  near  the  head  of  the 
Persian  Gulf. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  land  so  called  was 
a  part  of  the  plain  of  Babylonia  where  the  cities  of 
Nimrod  were  planted,  Gen.  10:  10,  Nimrod  being  a 
son  of  Cush. 

These  discoveries  show  that,  in  after  ages,  the 
Cushites  left  Babylonia  and  emigrated  southward 
along  the  Persian  Gulf  into  Arabia,  of  which  they 
occupied  a  very  large  part,  and  from  its  southern 
part  crossed  over  to  Africa  to  the  country  which  in 

*  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  108.    - 


CREATION:   CHRONOLOGY  AND  ITS  SOURCES.        I  3 

after  times  was  called   by   the   Greek  geographers 
Ethiopia. 

Dr.  F.  Delitzsch  supposes  that  Havilah  was  the 
district  lying  west  of  the  Euphrates  and  reaching  to 
the  Persian  Gulf,  and  that  the  Gush  of  the  text  was 
the  land  adjoining  on  the  east,  having  the  present 
S/iat  cl-Nil  for  its  border  line.  The  long  stream  west 
of  the  Euphrates,  which  was  known  to  the  Greeks  as 
Pallacopas,  Dr.  Delitzsch  considers  as  the  Pison,  and 
the  Sliat  cl-Nil  as  the  Gihon  (see  the  map).  The 
Garden  of  Eden  he  places  at  that  part  where  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris  approach  each  other  very 
nearly,  being  at  that  place  only  twenty-five  miles 
apart.* 

4.  In  the  Garden  of  Eden  the  Lord  God  put 
the  first  pair.  Of  the  man  it  is  said  that  he  was 
placed  in  the  garden  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it;" 
and  of  the  woman,  that  she  should  be  "  a  help  meet 
for  him."  How  long  this  state  of  things  continued 
is  not  related,  but,  through  the  serpent,  temptation 
entered  into  the  mind  of  Eve,  and  she  gave  of  the 
forbidden  fruit  unto  her  husband  and  they  did  eat, 
"and  their  eyes  were  opened,"  apparently  to  the 
sense  of  guilt  in  violating  the  command  which  for- 
bade them  to  "  eat  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil."  The  curse  then  followed,  and  they 
were  driven  out  from  the  garden,  to  which  they  were 
never  to  return. 

5,  After  the  expulsion   Cain  and  Abel  were 

*  "  Wo  lag  das  Paradies  ?"  Dr.  Delitzsch. 


14  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

born,  and  the  first  murder  took  place  in  the  killing 
of  Abel  by  Cain,  the  latter  being  punished  by  being 
driven  out  "  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  Cain 
went  eastward  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  and 
his  first-born  son,  Enoch,  built  the  first  city,  which 
was  named  after  him,  Enoch.  Neither  the  land  of 
Nod  nor  the  city  Enoch  has  been  certainly  located. 

6.  We  now  have  an  account  of  the  descendants 
of  Adam,  with  the  statement  of  their  several  ages. 
Upon  this  statement  of  ages  a  chronology  has  been 
based,  usually  called  the  Biblical  Chronology.  It  is 
derived  from  that  account  which  is  recorded  in  the 
Hebrew,  the  language  in  which  the  history  was  orig- 
inally written.  But  there  is  another  account  which 
was  given  in  the  earliest  extant  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  history,  and  this  is  called  the  Septuagint 
Greek,  made  about  286  B.  C;  and  the  chronology  of 
this  old  translation  differs  materially  from^  the  He- 
brew original.  There  is  yet  another  authority,  the 
Samaritan  Pentateuch,  the  manuscript  of  which  is 
kept  at  Shechem,  in  Palestine,  and  is  the  oldest 
known  inanuscript  of  the  Bible  in  the  world,  hav- 
ing been  written  before  the  Captivity  and  in  the 
old  Hebrew  letters.* 

These  are  the  only  three  records  of  any  import- 
ance, and  the  variations  in  these  records  are  seen  in 
the  following  table  :f 

*  Of  this  manuscript  we  shall  give  a  description  hereafter,  as  also  of 
the  Septuagint. 

t  Schumann's  "  Commentary  on  Genesis." 


CREATION:    CHRONOLOGY  AND  ITS  SOURCES. 


15 


Adam 

Seth 

Enos 

Cainan 

Mahalaleel 

Jared  

Enoch  

Methuselah 

Another    translation   of 

tuagint 

Lamech 

Noali 


Sep- 


Lived  before 
birtli  of  sons. 


HEB. 

130 
105 
90 
70 

65 
162 

65 

1S7 


182 

500 


53 


SEP. 
230 
205 
190 
170 
165 
162 
165 
187 
167 
165 


After  birth  of 
sons. 


800 

807 

815 
840 
830 
800 
300 
7S2 


595 


785 
300 

653 


600 


SEP. 
700 
707 

715 

740 

730 
800 
200 
782 
802 

565 


Total. 


HEB. 

930 
912 

905 
910 

895 
962 

365 
969 


ni 


847 
720 

653 


962 
969 

753 


It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  table  that  the  He- 
brew text  affords  data  which  give  us  1,656  years 
from  the  creation  of  Adam  to  the  Flood,  for  we  must 
add  100  to  Noah's  age  of  500,  since  the  Flood  began 
when  Noah  was  600  years  old  (Gen.  7 : 6).  The  Sa- 
maritan text  takes  away  100  years  from  the  life  of 
Jared,  120  from  that  of  Methuselah,  and  129  from 
that  of  Lamech,  as  compared  with  the  Hebrew  text, 
making  the  Flood  occur  1,307  after  Adam's  creation, 
while  the  Septuagint  adds  100  to  the  lives  of  each  of 
the  first  five  and  to  that  of  Enoch,  and  six  to  that  of 
Lamech,  making  the  Flood  begin  2,262  years  after 
the  creation  of  Adam,  according  to  one  reading  of 
the  Septuagint,  or  2,242  according  to  another. 

So  that  the  aggregates  of  time  from  the  Creation 
to  the  Flood,  as  deduced  from  the  Hebrew,  the  Sa- 
maritan, and  the  Septuagint,  severally  are  1,656, 
1,307,  and  2,262.  The  Samaritan  is  the  oldest  man- 
uscript, but  it  cannot  be  made  certain  that  the  dates 
as  given  in  that  manuscript  have  suffered  no  alter- 


l6  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

ation ;  and  hence  the  Hebrew  account  has  been 
followed  in  our  entire  English  version,  the  chronol- 
ogy of  which  was  arranged  by  Archbishop  Ussher 
(usually  written  Usher),  A.  D.  1580,*  but  it  ''is  of 
no  inspired  authority  and  of  great  uncertainty." 

7.  The  subject  of  Biblical  Chronology,  as  de- 
rived from  data  recorded  in  the  Scripture,  is  neces- 
sarily unsettled;  and  this  is  so  partly  becausef  the 
sacred  writers  speak  of  descendants  of  a  given  pro-, 
genitor  as  his  sons,  in  accordance  with  Eastern  cus- 
tom, and  partly  perhaps  from  the  use  of  letters, 
for  figures,  in  the  early  manuscripts,;!:  which  have 
suffered  changes  in  subsequent  transcriptions.  But 
although  these  variations  occur,  discoveries  connect- 
ed with  the  remains  of  other  nations  than  the  Jew- 
ish, and  connected  with  other  histories  than  the  Jew- 
ish, are  beginning  to  throw  light  upon  the  Scripture 
history  and  chronology. 

These  collateral  histories  allude  to  persons  and 
events  of  Jewish  history  and  afford  such  data  that 
in  many  instances  we  can  determine  from  them  the 
actual  year  of  Scripture  events.  This  aid  is  particu^ 
larly  important  as  derived  from  both  Assyrian  and 
Egyptian  discoveries,  and  this  we  shall  have  reason 
hereafter  to  show. 

*  Schaff's  "  Bible  Dictionary,"  p.  184. 

t  Translation  of  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  315. 

t  Eichhorn's  "  Einleitung,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  90.    Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  83. 


THE   SIGNIFICANCE   OF   NAMES.  I7 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   SIGNIFICANCE   OF   NAMES. 

1,  111  the  earliest  periods  of  human  history 
names,  either  for  persons,  places,  or  things,  had 
meanings  which  were  in  some  sense  applicable  to 
the  person,  .place,  or  thing  named.  This  was  spe- 
cially true  in  Hebrew  history,  and  of  this  we  have 
already  had  illustrations ;  for  when  Eve  was  brought 
to  Adam  "he  called  her  name  woman,  because  she 
was  taken  out  of  man,"  but  afterwards,  because  Eve 
in  the  Hebrew  meant  life,  he  "  called  his  wife's  name 
Eve,  because  she  was  the  mother  of  all  living." 

Adam's  name  denoted  his  relation  to  the  ground 
(Hebrew,  AdamaJi),  from  the  dust  of  which  he  was 
taken ;  and  as  Eve's  body  was  derived  from  that  of 
Adam,  the  name  of  the  two  was  Adam  (Gen.  5 :  2), 
which  was  the  name  given  by  God  "  in  the  day  when 
they  were  created,"  and  this  name  was  exclusively 
the  description  of  the  first  man  and  the  first  woman. 

In  Gen.  2:23  we  have  the  generic  name  given  to 
the  race  in  the  Hebrew  terms  "  hit''  and  "■  IshaJi'"  for 
"man"  and  "woman,"  given  by  Adam  to  himself 
and  to  the  woman :  "  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones 
and  flesh  of  my  flesh:  she  shall  be  called  woman 
(Ishah),  because  she  was  taken  out  of  man  (Ish)." 

3.  The  root,  or  primitive  meaning,  of  Ish  is  un- 

Ijiblical  [liatory  and  Geography.  2 


1 8  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

certain,  but  from  its  subsequent  use  we  may  infer 
that  it  denoted  a  characteristic  of  humanity  higher 
than  that  expressed  by  the  word  Adam,  and  may 
have  occurred  to  the  father  of  men  while  naming 
tlie  animals  as  an  appellative  distinguishing  his  own 
from  the  inferior  order  of  the  animate  creation.* 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  ancient  Assyrian  name 
for  the  first  man  is  Admu  or  Adamu,  the  Assyrian 
form  of  the  Hebrew  Adam.f 

3.  Ill  the  Hebrew  history,  therefore,  names 
are  not  to  be  regarded  as  mere  sounds  or  combina- 
tions of  sounds,  attached  at  random  to  certain  objects 
or  persons,  so  as  to  become  the  audible  signs  by 
which  we  distinguish  them  from  each  other,  but 
very  frequently  proper  names  had  a  deeper  meaning 
and  were  more  closely  connected  in  men's  thoughts 
with  character  and  condition  than  among  any  other 
ancient  nation  with  the  history  and  literature  of 
which  we  are  acquainted.;}:  Thus  it  is  that,  as  Arch- 
bishop Trench  says,  words  are  often  the  repositories 
of  historical  information. § 

*  W.  F.  Wilkinson,  "  Personal  Names  in  the  Bible,"  p.  lo. 

t  Delitzsch,  "  Clialdaean  Genealogy,"  p.  304. 

X  Wilkinson,  p.  15. 

§  Trench,  "  Study  of  Words." 


THE   DESCENDANTS   OF   ADAM.  1 9 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE   DESCENDANTS   OF  ADAM. 

1.  As  the  history  proceeds  it  becomes  very- 
plain  that  the  descendants  of  Adam  are  selected 
with  a  purpose,  which  a  general  acquaintance  with 
Scripture  reveals.  That  purpose  w^as  to  record  the 
ancestry  of  Abraham  and  so  of  the  children  of  Israel. 
Other  descendants  are  occasionally  mentioned  when 
any  interesting  or  important  event  suggests  itself  to 
the  historian,  but  the  main  purpose  is  never  lost 
sight  of. 

Thus  the  descendants  of  Cain  are  briefly  enumer- 
ated through  his  first-born,  Enoch,  "the  teacher,"  as 
his  name  signifies.  He  was  the  first  builder  of  a 
city,  and  may,  as  Geikie  suggests,  have  been  the  first 
to  teach  men  "the  culture  of  city  life,"  or  "the  ele- 
ments of  physical  life." 

2.  His  descendaiits  were  Irad,  "the  swift  one," 
perhaps  because  of  his  hunter's  life ;  Mehujael,  "  the 
stricken  of  God,"  for  some  unrecorded  transgression  ; 
Methusael,  probably  bearing  the  name  God  in  the 
syllable  "el,"  and  meaning  "  champion  of  God,"  sug- 
gesting some  religious  act;  as  if,  even  among  the 
race  of  Cain,  God  "  had  not  left  himself  without  a 
witness."* 

3.  But  we  find  Lamech,  "a  wild  man,"  who  first 

*"  Geikie. 


20  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

introduces  polygamy,  for  ever  hereafter  to  be 
associated  in  origin  with  the  race  of  Cain,  One  of 
his  two  wives  was  named  Adah,  a  Hebrew  term  for 
"  ornament,"  and  is  found  in  the  compounds  Adaiah, 
"  whom  Jehovah  adorns,"  and  Maadiah,  "  ornament 
from  Jehovah."  There  must  have  been  a  personal 
attraction  w^hich  made  the  name  appropriate. 

4.  In  the  other  wife's  name,  Zillah,  it  has  been 
supposed  that  the  termination  "ah"  has  reference 
to  the  name  of  Jehovah ;  it  is  more  probable,  how- 
ever, that  the  meaning  is  confined  to  the  root  of 
this  word,  which  signifies  "a  shade."  To  her  son, 
Tubal-Cain,  we  are  indebted  for  the  first  work  in 
copper  and  iron,  as  the  sentence  "instructor  of  every 
artificer  in  brass  and  iron  "  means.  Perhaps  we  may 
say  "bronze"  for  "brass,"  since  brass  is  a  compound 
of  zinc  and  copper,  and  bronze  is  a  compound  of  tin 
and  copper,  and  the  latter  has  been  discovered  in 
the  most  ancient  ruins,  which  has  not  been  true  as 
to  brass.  Brass,  however,  is  used  in  Scripture  in 
some  instances  as  the  nam.e  for  copper.*  Chisels 
have  been  taken  from  ruins  in  Egypt  containing 
copper  94  per  cent.,  tin  5.9,  and  iron  o.i ;  and  a  bowl 
from  Nimrud,  about  twenty  miles  south  of  Nineveh, 
was  composed  of  copper  89.57  per  cent.,  and  of  tin 

*  Copper  is  as  abundant  now  as  then.  There  is  quite  a  trade  in 
copper  between  Bagdad  and  Bassora  near  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf. 
All  household  utensils  are  made  of  copper.  When  Xenophon  arrived 
with  his  Ten  Thousand,  B.  C.  400,  in  this  region  (in  his  time  it  was  called 
the  land  of  the  Carduchi)  he  was  astonished  at  the  quantity  of  metallic 
utensils.     Lenormant,  "Ancient  History  of  the  East,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  203. 


THE   DESCENDANTS   OF   ADAM.  21 

10.43.  I^  the  sepulchral  furniture  with  which  the 
oldest  of  the  Chaldaean  tombs  were  filled  we  already 
find  more  bronze  than  copper.*  The  excavations  at 
Warka,  the  ancient  Erech  of  Gen.  lo:  lo,  ninety -five 
miles  southeast  of  Babylon,  seem  to  prove  that  the 
ancient  Chaldseans  made  use  of  iron  before  the 
Egyptians.! 

5.  The  name  given  to  Jabal,  the  son  of  Adah, 
suggests  that  he  led  a  pastoral  life  with  his  cattle. 
His  name  means  "wanderer,"  and  hence  he  was  very 
appropriately  "the  father  of  such  as  dwell  in  tents." 
"  His  brother's  name  was  Jubal ;  he  was  the  father 
of  all  such  as  handle  the  harp  and  organ  ;"  the  latter 
name  suggesting  some  wind  instrument  or  pipe.  His 
name  significantly  means  "the  player." 

6.  To  this  list  of  "  first  things  "  may  be  added  the 
first  instance  of  poetical  utterance,  for  the  ad- 
dress of  Lamech  to  his  wives  is  in  the  form  of  the 
earliest  Hebrew  poetry.     Gen.  4 :  23. 

Adah  and  Zillah,  hear  my  voice, 
Wives  of  Lamech,  hear  my  speech. 
I  have  slain  a  man  for  wounding  me, 
A  young  man  for  hurting  me. 
If  Cain  shall  be  avenged  seven-fold, 
Surely  Lamech  seventy-and-seven. 

With  this  ends  the  history  of  the  descendants  of 
Cain.  The  history  of  those  descendants  of  Adam 
through  whom  the  children  of  Israel  traced  their 
lineage  is  begun  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis. 

*  Rawlinson,  "  The  Five  Great  Monarchies,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  98. 
t  Pcrrot  &  Cliipiez,  "  Art  in  Chaldsea." 


22  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   LINEAGE   OF   THE   PATRIARCHS. 

1.  Ten  generations  are  given,  from  Adam  to 
the  Flood,  and  the  remarkably  long  lives  of  the  Pa- 
triarchs have  suggested  to  many  the  probability  of 
error  or  misunderstanding.  Some  have  supposed 
that  each  name  represents  a  tribe,  the  lives  of  whose 
leading  members  have  been  added  together.  Others 
have  understood  the  years  to  mean  only  months, 
and  others  that  numbers  and  dates  are  liable  in  the 
course  of  years  to  become  obscured  and  exagger- 
ated.* 

2.  But  as  to  all  these  opinions  it  must  be 
remembered,  First,  that  the  era  from  the  creation  of 
Adam  to  the  Flood,  1,656  years,  is  to  be  divided  by 
the  number  ten,  the  number  of  the  Patriarchs,  which 
would  require  an  individual  length  of  life  much 
longer  than  that  enjoyed  at  the  present  day;  and. 
Secondly,  no  scientific  reasons  can  be  offered  why 
human  life  should  be  limited  in  duration  to  its  pres- 
ent length.  It  varies  now  according  to  the  contin- 
gencies of  accident  and  disease,  and  old  age  itself 
may  be  only  a  modified  form  of  disease  and  not 
essential  to  a  human  organism.  A  clock  made  to 
run  twenty-four  hours  is  expected  to  run  down  in 

■•"  See  "  Speaker's  Commentary,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  62.  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  1S4. 


THE   LINEAGE   OF   THE    PATRIARCHS.  23 

about  that  time,  but  the  clock-maker  may,  by  adding 
one  wheel,  or  to  the  length  of  the  weight-cord,  or  by 
some  other  very  simple  rearrangement,  make  the 
very  same  clock  run  a  week  or  a  month.  It  is  only 
a  question  of  life,  about  which,  as  to  its  nature,  we 
know  little  or  nothing.  Thirdly,  as  to  the  historic 
probability,  it  is  a  fact  that  traditions  other  than 
those  of  the  Hebrew  nation  represent  that  in  the 
earliest  ages  there  was  an  enjoyment  of  exceedingly 
long  lives.  The  chronology  of  Berosus,  a  Chaldsean 
priest  and  historian,  B.  C.  279  to  255,  gives  to  the  ten 
Babylonian  kings  who  in  the  earliest  traditions  of 
that  people  reigned  before  the  Babylonian  deluge 
2,221  years,  or  only  21  years  less  than  the  period 
given  in  the  Septuagint  as  having  elapsed  between 
the  Creation  and  the  Deluge.*  The  earliest  Aryan 
tradition  states  that  the  first  man  lived  1,000  years 
in  Paradise. 

Other  nations  have  kept  the  same  tradition  of 
long  lives  in  the  earliest  times,  which  nations  could 
not  have  received  the  tradition  from  the  Scriptures. 

3.  But  there  is  a  probability  arising  from  the 
fitness  of  long'  lives,  and  that  is  seen  in  the  neces- 
sity of  a  history  which  could  thus  be  obtained  by  tra- 
dition when  no  written  language  existed.  It  will 
be  seen  that  from  Adam  to  the  Flood  tradition  was 
delivered  through  only  one  person,  so  that  Lamech 
could  repeat  to  Noah  what  Adam  had  narrated  to 
him  of  all  the  dealings  of  God  in  Eden  and  after  the 

*  See  Vigouroux  and  Leiiormant,  as  quoted  by  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  86. 


24  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

expulsion.  Although  Lamech  lived  during-  the  life- 
times of  all  the  Patriarchs  down  to  the  Flood,  which 
took  place  1,656  years  after  the  creation  of  Adam,  he 
himself  was  only  'jj']  years  old  at  death.  Thus  we 
see  that  tradition  was  more  trustworthy  then  than  at 
any  time  since. 

4-.  Moreover,  Shem  lived  nearly  a  century  before 
the  death  of  Lamech,  who  could  have  narrated  the 
story  of  Eden  and  the  trials  and  experiences  of  his 
after-life,  as  well  as  the  history  of  the  Patriarchal 
times,  to  Shem,  who  was  alive  in  the  times  of  Abra- 
ham and  his  son  Isaac.  By  that  time  writing  was 
invented,  and  doubtless  much  of  the  history  of  the 
times  before  and  after  the  Flood  had  been  commit- 
ted to  writing,  which  was  invented  several  centuries 
before  the  death  of  Shem,  as  we  learn  from  the  an- 
cient Chaldaean  records, 

5.  After  the  Flood  long  lives  continued,  but  in 
much  shorter  terms,  Arphaxad,  Salah,  and  Eber 
each  lived  about  four  centuries,  and  each  of  the  next 
three  patriarchs  lived  over  200  years,  and  it  was  not 
till  after  the  time  of  Judah,  seven  centuries  after  the 
Flood,  that  the  length  of  a  human  life  was  reduced 
to  about  a  century. 


THE   FLOOD.  2$ 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   FLOOD. 

1.  The  Scripture  statement  of  the  occasion  of 
the  Flood  is  very  brief.  It  is  made  plain,  however, 
that  the  wickedness  of  men  was  so  great  that  "  t/ie 
earth  was  filled  with  violence  and  corrupt  before  God." 

2.  Noah  was  commanded  to  prepare  an  ark  for 
his  own  safety  and  that  of  his  family ;  and  he  was 
also  directed  to  provide  for  the  preservation  of  a 
large  number  of  "  fowls,  cattle,  and  creeping  things." 

3.  Between  the  time  of  the  announcement  of  the 
divine  intention  to  destroy  "  man  whom  he  had  crea- 
ted "  and  the  occurrence  of  the  Flood  God  gave  a 
warning  era  of  120  years,  at  the  close  of  which  the 
Flood  began.  "  The  waters  prevailed  upon  the  earth 
150  days."  After  this  time  they  were  abated,  and 
gradually  retired  till  the  earth  was  dry,  and  Noah 
and  his  family  left  the  ark  in  which  he  had  remained 
twelve  months  and  ten  days,  or  from  the  six  hundred 
and  first  year,  second  month,  and  seventeenth  day 
to  the  six  hundred  and  second  year,  second  month, 
and  twenty-seventh  day  of  Noah's  life. 

4.  All  interesting  fact  may  here  be  stated.  A 
few  years  ago  there  were  discovered  by  excavations 
at  the  ancient  site  of  Nineveh,  on  the  Tigris,  the 
palace  of  Assur-bani-pal,  in  which  had  been  stored 
some  10,000  tablets  of  a  library  gathered  by  this  king 


26  BIDLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

B.  C.  968.  These  tablets  were  shipped  to  the  British 
Museum,  of  which  George  Smith,  the  Assyriologist, 
was  librarian,  and  a  large  number  of  them  transla- 
ted. Among  these  tablets  was  found  a  record  of  the 
Deluge,  which  was  read  by  Mr.  Smith  in  December, 
1872,  before  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology  in 
London. 

5.  The  record  states  that  the  tradition  recorded 
is  copied  from  a  more  ancient  account  which  was  in 
existence  in  the  times  of  a  king  of  the  city  of  Accad 
(Gen.  10)  many  years  after  the  time  of  Nimrod,  who 
founded  it.  The  remains  of  this  city  have  been 
recently  discovered  forty-three  miles  north-northwest 
from  Babylon. 

The  name  of  the  king  of  Accad  was  Sargon  I., 
whose  date  appears  from  the  monuments  to  have 
been  about  3800  B.  C.  This  Chaldsean  history  of  the 
Deluge  is  so  similar  to  that  of  the  Scriptures  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  that  both  record  the  same  fact. 

6.  The  simple  narration  as  it  occurs  in  Gen- 
esis is  so  free  from  the  irrelevant  and  unnecessary 
additions,  of  the  Chaldasan  account  as  to  show  that 
the  Biblical  account  is  a  record  of  true  history.  As 
the  Chaldsean  account  is  dated  long  before  Abram 
left  Chaldsea,  and  hence  long  before  the  birth  of 
Moses,  it  could  never  have  been  derived  from  Scrip- 
ture, and  proves  that  a  tradition  of  such  an  event  as 
that  of  the  Flood  must  have  existed  very  early  in 
the  history  of  the  race. 


THE   TWO   ARARATS.      THE    SONS   OF   JAPHETH.     2/ 


PERIOD  11. 

THE  PATRIARCHAL  ERA  AFTER  THE  FLOOD 
TO  THE  DEATH  OF  JACOB. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   TWO   ARARATS.      THE   SONS   OF  JAPHETH. 

1.  Although  the  tradition  of  tlie  Flood  seems 
to  have  readied  to  almost  every  nation,  it  has  been 
referred  locally  to  some  part  of  Western  Asia,  and 
particularly  to  that  part  known  as  Armenia.  The 
Scriptures  tell  us  that  the  ark  rested  upon  "the 
inoviiitains  of  Ararat,"  Gen.  8 : 4,  not  upon  any 
particular  mountain  called  Ararat,  as  it  has  been 
assumed. 

2,  The  word  Ararat  is  found  in  the  Assyrian  in- 
scriptions for  Armenia.*  A  mountain  500  miles 
north  of  Babylon  is  called  Mt.  Ararat  by  travellers, 
and  seems  first  to  have  been  announced  as  the  "  Mt. 
Ararat"  in  A.  D.  1250,  as  Bochart  says. 

Tlie  other  claimant  is  50  miles  north  of  Nine- 
veh and  is  called  ML  Kudiir,  the  meaning  being 
"the  great  ship."f    This  view  is  supported  by  older 

*  So  Schrader  in  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  208. 

I  Osborn's  "  Manual  of  Biblical  Geography." 


28  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

historians,  such  as  Berosus  and  others.  The  Mt. 
Ararat  of  present  travellers  is  a  solitary  double  peak, 
called  Mt.  Massis  by  the  Armenians,  which  rises 
17,500  feet  above  the  sea. 

THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF   RACES. 

3.  The  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  is  considered  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  chapters  because  of  the  aid  it 
affords  in  tracing  the  early  emigrations  and  dis- 
tributions of  the  race.  In  this  chapter  the  descend- 
ants of  the  three  sons  of  Noah,  Shem,  Ham,  and 
Japheth,  are  given.  The  descendants  of  Shem  are 
known  among  scholars  as  Shemites  or  Semites,  as 
those  of  Ham  are  known  as  Hamites.  Although 
Shem  is  named  first  in  order,  Japheth  is  called  the 
elder  (ver.  2 1 ),  and  the  genealogy  begins  with  him. 

THE  SONS  OF  JAPHETH  :  THEIR  MORE  RECENT  NAMES. 

4.  {a)  Gomer.  These  were  the  Cimmerians  of 
antiquity,  the  Cimbri  of  Roman  times,  and  the  Cym- 
ry  or  Celts  still  existing.  Their  ancient  country  was 
north  of  the  Black  Sea,  including  the  Crimea  and  the 
shores  of  the  Sea  of  Azov. 

The  name  Crimea  is  a  corruption  of  the  ancient 
name.  It  is  to  this  north  land  Ezekiel  refers  in  chap. 
38 : 2,  6.  A  part  of  them  went  southward  to  Asia 
Minor  when  driven  out  by  the  Scythians,  and  some 
emigrated  to  the  west  of  Europe  and  to  Britain, 
The  Welsh  call  themselves  Cymry.      "  The  SONS  OF 


THE   TWO   ARARATS.      THE   SONS   OF   JAPHETH.     29 

Gomer"   were   Ashkenaz,   Riphath,  and   Togar- 

MAH." 

5.  Ashkenaz.  The  name  means  "the  horse 
MILKERS,"  and  suggests  some  race  of  a  wandering 
tribe  of  the  same  general  country  of  the  Cimmerians 
or  of  that  land  northeast  of  them.  The  names  Asca- 
nius,  a  river  and  lake  in  Asia  Minor,  and  Scandia  and 
Scandinavia,  suggest  that  they  may  have  entered 
Phrygia,  as  Bochart  supposes,  but  the  associations 
are  uncertain.  They  seem  in  later  times  to  have  in 
some  degree  returned  to  a  region  near  Armenia, 
since  Jeremiah  associates  them  with  Ararat,  Jer. 
51:27. 

6.  Riphath  seems  to  be  suggested  by  the  name 
of  the  Rhiphaean  Mountains  in  the  distant  regions 
of  the  north  of  Scythia.  More  probably  we  may  find 
some  intimation  of  their  presence  near  Armenia  in 
the  name  Riphates,  which  is  that  of  a  mountain 
range  in  that  vicinity. 

7.  Togarmah  is  supposed  to  be  represented  by 
the  tribes  of  the  Caucasus,  Georgians  and  Ar- 
menians, who  call  themselves  "  the  House  of  Tor- 
gona,"  the  latter  word  being  the  same  as  Togar- 
mah. 

8.  {b)  Magog,  the  name  of  the  second  son  of 
Japheth,  was  also  the  name  of  a  country.  Slavonic 
tribes  in  the  north  and  northeast  of  Europe  are  sup- 
posed to  be  comprehended  under  this  term  as  de- 
scendants from  the  grandson  of  Japheth,  and  the 
original  country  of  Magog  was  the  Caucasian  Moun- 


30  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

tains  and  the  country  around  the  northern  part  of 
the  Caspian  Sea. 

9.  In  the  time  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel  they 
had  become  a  powerful  people  and  had  overrun  the 
north  of  Europe.  The  Russians  are,  and  the  Scyth- 
ians were,  the  descendants  of  Magog,  and  Gog  is  the 
"prince  of  Rosh,"  of  Meshech,  and  of  Tubal.  They 
are  described  by  Ezekiel,  chaps.  38:  15  and  39:3,  as 
a  wild  race  of  mounted  men  armed  with  the  bow. 
This  seems  also  to  describe  the  Scythians  who  inva- 
ded Palestine  B.  C.  625,  and  left  the  evidence  of  their 
presence  in  the  city  called  Scythopolis,  formerly  Beth- 
shean,  now  Bcisan,  on  the  Jordan.* 

10.  (c)  Madai  is  the  name  by  which  the  Medes 
are  known  on  the  Assyrian  monuments.  Their  coun- 
try was  south  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 

11.  {d)  Javaii  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Greeks, 
and  the  name  occurs  on  the  Assyrian  monuments  as 
Javanu ;  a  term  also  used  by  Darius,  the  Mede.f 

12.  The  sons  of  Javan  were:  (i.)  Elishah,  who 
settled  in  the  northwest  of  Asia  Minor  from  the  Pro- 
pontis  eastward  throughout  Mysia  and  Lydia  and  the 
adjacent  islands.  (2.)  Tarshish,  supposed  to  be  the 
ancestor  of  the  Etruscans  who  inhabited  the  north- 
ern part  of  Italy ;  but  the  name  as  it  occurs  in  Isa. 
23  :6-io;  Ezek.  27  :  12  and  38  :  13,  seems  to  refer  to  a 
city  on  the  southern  coast  of  Spain  whither  Jonah 
attempted  to  escape.  Jonah  i :  3.     (3.)  Kittim.     This 

*  Full  references  in  Bochart's  "  Geography,"  pp.  192,  193. 
t  Schrader  in  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  234. 


THE   TWO   ARARATS.      THE   SONS   OF  JAPHETH.     3 1 

name  is  afterwards  spelled  Chittim,  but  it  is  the 
same  word  in  the  Hebrew  text.  It  has  the  plural 
ending  {im),  and  therefore  refers  to  a  people  of  that 
name.  In  Isa.  23  :  i,  12,  Chittim  refers  to  the  island 
of  Cyprus  ;  but  when  "  the  isles  of  Chittim  "  are  men- 
tioned, as  in  Jer.  2:10  and  in  Ezek.  27  : 6,  the  phrase 
includes  the  island  of  Crete  and  the  islands  along 
the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  ^gean  Sea,  thus 
embracing  a  great  sea  district,  with  probably  all 
Greece.  In  Dan.  1 1  :  30  Chittim  includes  Macedonia, 
because  of  its  supposed  settlement  from  the  former, 
as  Bochart  shows.* 

(4.)  DODANIM  is  the  same  as  Rodanim,  which  is 
also  in  plural  form,  and  refers  to  the  Greeks  of  the 
island  of  Rhodes,  which  is  particularly  one  of  the 
islands  of  Kittim  or  Chittim. 

13.  The  other  sons  of  Japheth  were :  {e)  Tu- 
bal and  (/)  Meshech  and  {g)  Tiras.  Of  these  Tubal 
and  Meshech  appear  as  tribes  neighboring  with  the 
Scythians  and  other  northern  tribes,  and  perhaps 
remained  about  the  southeastern  parts  of  the  Black 
Sea.  The  Tubal  of  Isa.  66:  19  was,  as  supposed,  in 
Spain  ;  but  a  tribe  called  Tyrrhenians  in  later  times 
settled  the  islands  of  Lemnos  and  Imbros.f  The 
name  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  turreted 
walls  by  which  the  early  Tyrrhenians  surrounded 
their  fortifications,  and  not  from  Tyre,  as  some  have 
said ;  this  Bochart  shows.  Tiras  is  supposed  by  some 
to  represent  ancient  Thrace,  but  this  is  doubtful,  as 

*  Bochart,  "  Geog.  Sac,"  p.  157.  t  Ibid.,  p.  586. 


32  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

the  people  seem  to  have  been  associated  with  the 
Achaeans,  Lydians,  Sicilians,  and  Sardinians  fourteen 
centuries  B.  C,  in  an  invasion  of  Egypt,  as  Chabas 
shows.*  They  seem  in  remote  antiquity  to  have 
been  seafarers  and  pirates  upon  the  Italian  seas  and 
Greek  Archipelago.f 

*  "  Etudes  de  1'  antiquite  historique."    Paris,  1873. 
t  Geikie,  p.  234,  Vol.  I. 


THE   SONS   OF   HAM.  33 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   SONS   OF   HAM.      THEIR   MORE   RECENT   NAMES. 

1.  {a)  Cvish  was  the  first  mentioned  son.  Dr. 
Franz  Delitzsch  has  shown  that  the  Assyrian  monu- 
ments now  prove  that  Cushites  settled  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  world  near  the  northwest  of  the  Persian 
Gulf.  They  afterwards  migrated  southward  along 
the  western  shore  of  the  Persian  Gulf  and  onward  to 
the  south  and  southwest  of  Arabia.  Some  of  these 
crossed  the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb  to  Africa,  and 
there  established  themselves  in  that  part  now  known 
as  Abyssinia,  and  called  first  by  the  Greek  geogra- 
phers Ethiopia. 

2.  The  Hebrew  name  Cush  is  translated  Ethi- 
opia twenty  of  the  twenty-one  times  it  occurs  in  the 
Scripture.  There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
in  the  first  mention  of  the  word  Ethiopia  in  Gen. 
2:13  the  region  northwest  of  the  Persian  Gulf  is 
meant.  In  after  ages  the  Cushites  had  established 
themselves  in  Arabia,  and  the  inhabitants  in  that 
region  were  called  Cushites,  or  as  it  is  in  our  English 
translation,  "  Ethiopians,"  as  in  the  case  of  Moses* 
wife,  who  is  called  an  "  Ethiopian  woman,"  Num. 
12:1,  but  it  is  "  Cushite  "  in  the  Hebrew. 

The  varying  meanings  of  the  name  Cushite  afford 
an   indication  that  all  these   passages  of   Scripture 

Biblical  History  and  Geography.  2* 


34  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

could  not  have  been  written  in  the  same  period  of 
time. 

3.  The  earliest  iiioiiumeiits  in  Egypt  make 
a  strong  distinction  between  the  Ethiopians  south 
of  Egypt  and  the  negro  races,  for  although  the 
Ethiopians  were  of  a  dark  or  dusky  skin,  they  had 
straight  hair,  thin  noses,  and  the  form  of  the  head 
of  different  shape.  It  is  not  apparent  that  any  ref- 
erence in  Scripture  is  made  to  the  negro  race  as 
such;  the  passage  in  Jer.  13:23,  "■Can  the  Ethiopian 
change  his  skin  f  may  apply  to  the  dark  Ethiopian 
and  not  to  the  negro,  whose  native  land  was  west  of 
Ethiopia.* 

4.  Five  races  spring  from  Cush  :  Seba,  Havilah, 
Sabtah,  Raamah,  and  Sabtecha.  These  have  gen- 
erally been  referred  to  large  tribes  settling  in  Arabia. 
From  Raamah  we  have  the  nations  Sheba  and  De- 
dan.  These  have  been  located  in  Arabia,  and  it  was 
the  queen  of  the  former  who  visited  Solomon,  i  Kin. 
10:  I  and  2  Chron.  9:1.  Dedan  was  a  district  north 
of  Sheba,  and  its  inhabitants  seem  by  caravans  to 
have  traded  and  settled  northward  until  the  time  of 
Abraham,  Gen.  25:3,  when  their  descendants  were 
numerous  enough  to  be  known  by  the  old  name  of 
their  ancestors. 

5.  Cush  begat  Nimrod,  whose  exceptional  prow- 
ess and  enterprise  gave  him  precedence  over  all  his 
brethren.  He  was  a  mighty  hunter  upon  the  plains 
of  Babylon,  and  from  the  monuments  of  Assyria  it 

*  Lenormant,  Vol.  II.,  "Ancient  History  of  the  East,"  p.  236. 


THE   SONS   OF   HAM.  35 

seems  that  the  lion  was  the  chief  object  of  his  hunt- 
ing expeditions.  He  was  the  founder  of  some  of  the 
earliest  cities.  The  first  mentioned  is  Babel,  after- 
wards called  Babylon  by  the  Greeks,  which  was  built 
upon  the  Euphrates. 

6.  At  that  early  time  this  city  was  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  northwest  from  the 
head  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  but  it  is  now  three  hun- 
dred miles,  the  land  having  been  extended  south- 
eastward by  the  annual  deposits  brought  down  by 
the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris.  Erech,  the  second 
city  of  Nimrod,  was  seventy-five  miles  northwest 
(now  200)  of  the  same  gulf ;  Accad,  recently  dis- 
covered by  Rassam,  was  forty-five  miles  almost  due 
north  from  Babylon ;  and  Calneh  about  fifty  miles 
southeast  of  Babylon  ;  it  is  now  called  Niffcr. 

7.  The  land  of  Shinar  was  the  district  corres- 
ponding with  that  now  known  as  the  land  of  CJialdcEa. 
"  Out  of  that  land  went  forth  Asshur  and  builded 
Nineveh "  is  the  statement  made,  and  the  monu- 
ments recently  discovered  have  remarkably  corrobo- 
rated this  text,  for  the  history  shows  the  importance 
of  Asshur,  and  that  Nineveh,  which  was  the  capital 
of  the  Assyrian  kingdom,  was  a  more  recent  city 
than  Babylon.*     Its  ruins  are  two  hundred  and  sev- 

*  Some  have  recently  offered  a  new  reading  of  this  text,  as  follows: 
"  From  that  land  he  [NimrodJ  went  into  Assyria;"  but,  beside  what  has 
been  above  said,  Rosenmiiller  observes  that  if  this  had  been  the  mean- 
ing the  Hebrew  would  have  been  different.  We  may  add  that  the  Sep- 
tuagint  translators  understood  it  as  it  is  in  our  English  version,  that  it 
was  not  Nimrod,  but  Asshur,  who  built  Nineveh. 


2)6  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

enty-five  miles  north  by  west  from  Babylon  and  upon 
the  Tigris  River. 

8.  But  it  will  be  seen  that  Asshur  was  a  son  of 
Shem,  while  Nimrod  was  a  son  of  Ham,  and  recent 
discovery  has  sustained  the  distinction,  showing  that 
another  people  preceded  the  Assyrians  and  Baby- 
lonians which  were  not  descendants  of  Shem.  In 
connection  with  Nineveh  are  mentioned  "  the  city 
Rehoboth  "*  and  Calah  :  the  former  is  not  known, 
and  the  latter  is  supposed  to  be  at  the  ruins  nearly 
twenty  miles  south  of  Nineveh,  now  called  Niinrnd, 
and  a  few  miles  north  of  the  latter  is  supposed  to  be 
the  site  of  Rcsen. 

Further  excavations  are  needed  to  attest  the  accu- 
racy of  these  identifications. 

9.  {U)  Mizraiiii  is  mentioned  as  the  second  son 
of  Cush,  and  is  supposed  to  have  colonized  Egypt. 
The  word  is  in  the  dual  form  and  indicates  the  dou- 
ble land  of  Egypt,  which  from  the  earliest  times  was 
divided  into  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt. 

(i.)  Mizraim's  descendants  are  Ludim,  proba- 
bly simply  a  name  for  the  Egyptians  themselves; 
they  held  themselves  "  the  best  of  all  men,"f  and 
they  were  the  same  as  Libyans  or  Lubim,  2  Chron. 
12:3;   16:8;  Nah.  3  : 9.     The  Libyans  of  the  most 

*  It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  the  word  "  Rehoboth  "  does  not 
refer  to  a  city,  but  to  the  "  zuide  street "  of  Nineveh.  The  term  is  used  in 
that  sense  in  an  inscription  of  Esar-haddon,  in  which  he  says  that  he 
paraded  the  heads  of  two  kings  of  Sidon  through  (Rehoboth)  "the 
streets"  of  Nineveh.  W.  A.  I.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  45  ;  in  "  History  of  Esar-had- 
don," Budge,  1881,  p.  41. 

t  Herodotus,  Vol.  II.,  p.  121. 


THE   SONS   OP^   HAM.  3/ 

ancient  era  inhabited  the  west  of  the  Nile  and  parts 
near  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  They  appear  of  bright 
complexions  as  represented  upon  the  Egyptian  mon- 
uments. 

(2.)  "  Anamim  and  Lehabim  and  Naphtuhim  and 
Path RU SIM  "  appear  to  be  only  names  of  the  people 
of  the  different  settlements  along  the  Nile  and  not 
distinct  races.  (3.-)  The  Casluhim  have  been  identi- 
fied with  a  people  settling  east  of  the  Delta  near  the 
Mediterranean  coast  towards  Palestine,  and  seemed 
to  have  been  of  Phoenician  origin  (Ebers).  (4.)  Caph- 
TORIM  were  the  earliest  settlers  on  the  coast  of  the 
Delta  or  on  its  Mediterranean  shore,  even  before  the 
Egyptians  occupied  that  part  of  Egypt  (Ebers).  The 
Philistines  of  Palestine  (southwest  coast)  were  de- 
scendants of  both  Casluhim  and  Caphtorim.  "  Kaft " 
was  the  Egyptian  name  of  the  latter  people,  who 
early  settled  in  the  island  of  Crete,  but  also,  as  we 
have  stated,  on  the  seacoast  of  the  Nile,  and  gradu- 
ally moved  through  the  lands  of  the  Casluhim  to 
their  final  resting-place  in  Palestine.* 

10.  Thus  the  passage  in  Amos  9 :  7  is  explained 
by  the  discovery  that  the  Philistines  came  from 
Caphtor  (Crete),  but  they  passed  through  the  land  of 
the  Casluhim.  This  explains  Deut.  2  :  33,  wherein 
the  inhabitants  of  Azzah  (or  Gaza)  are  called  Caphto- 
rim, but  more  distinctly  in  Jer.  47  : 4,  "  the  Philistines, 
the  remnant  of  the  country  of  Caphtor."  So  that  the 
Philistines,  who  came  originally  from  Crete  (Caph- 

*  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  247. 


38  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

tor),  settled  on  the  Delta  coast,  and  thence  passing 
through  the  land  of  Casluhim,  settled  in  Philistia,  as 
Ebers  has  shown.* 

11,  A  migration  of  the  earliest  Phoenicians  to 
the  coasts  of  the  Delta  is  generally  accepted  as  lead- 
ing to  the  invention  of  tlie  alphabet,  for  these 
settlers  soon  learned  the  new  form  of  hieroglyphics 
(called  the  hieratic  or  priestly  form),  and  afterwards 
improved  these  signs,  as  in  the  Phoenician  alphabet. 
The  most  ancient  manuscript  in  hieratic  is  referred 
to  an  age  in  the  third  millennium  B.  C,  or  perhaps 
about  2500  B.  C.  In  the  trading  intercourse  between 
Egypt  and  Phoenicia  this  new  form  was  introduced 
into  Phoenicia,  where  the  full  alphabetic  forms  were 
originated.  Wise  men  of  that  day  must  have  very 
generally  adopted  the  improved  letters,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  centuries,  but  certainly  before  the  time 
of  the  Exodus,  the  alphabet  on  the  Phoenician  model 
was  well  formed.  De  Rouge  has  shown  that  the 
Phoenicians  adopted  these  hieratic  forms  long  before 
the  Exodus.f 

13.  This  alphabet  must  have  been  known 
to  Moses,  and  perhaps  to  all  the  elders  of  Israel, 
and  became  that  Hebrew  alphabet  which  furnished 
the  source  of  the  lettering  of  the  law  and  its  acces- 
sories. 

The  similarity  between  the  old  Hebrew  and  the 

*  More  fully  spoken  of  page  69. 

t  The  hieratic  is  written  from  right  to  left,  as  is  the  PhcEnician.     See 
Sayce's  "Ancient  Empires  of  the  East,"  Scribner,  1886,  p^84. 


THE   SONS   OF   HAM.  39 

Phoenician  letters  has  been  fully  shown  in  the  dis- 
coveries of  tablets  near  Tyre  and  in  the  Moabite 
stone,  so  called,  which  was  discovered  at  some  ruins 
east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  upon  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Dibon.  It  is  probable  therefore  that  the  first  ele- 
ments of  the  alphabetic  form  of  letters  were  invented 
about  this  era  of  the  world's  history,  when  the  Phoe- 
nicians began  their  trading  with  the  races  upon  the 
shores  of  Egypt,  which  we  have  last  mentioned. 

13.  The  next  son  of  Ham  is  (<r)  Phut.  The 
hieroglyphics  of  Egypt  represent  the  nation  east  of 
the  Red  Sea  and  along  the  northern  half  of  the  coast 
as  the  people  of  Punt,  and  this  people  is  supposed  to 
be  meant  by  Phut  or  Put.  They  traded  in  incense 
and  turquoise  (a  blue  mineral  not  so  hard  as  quartz 
but  as  heavy).  They  were  a  wandering  tribe  of  a 
dusky  hue,  but  entirely  distinct  from  the  Cushites 
on  whose  confines  they  dwelt. 

14.  The  last  mentioned  descendant  of  Hani 
was  {d^  Canaan.  He  begat  Sidon,  the  firstborn  of 
eleven  heads  of  tribes  or  nations.  Sidon  became  in 
after  centuries  the  name  of  the  chief  city  of  Phoeni- 
cia. The  rest  of  the  descendants  of  Canaan  formed 
the  Canaanites. 

15.  A  very  important  fact  should  be  noticed 
here.  These  Canaanites  spoke  a  Shemitic  language, 
but  they  were,  as  here  seen,  descendants  of  Ham 
through  Canaan.  Recent  discoveries  show  that  long 
before  their  settlement  in  the  land  of  Canaan  they 
are  met  with  first  in  Southern  Arabia,  from  whence 


40  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

they  made  their  way  northward  to  certain  islands  in 
the  Persian  Gulf,  their  next  resting-place  being-  on 
the  flat  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Euphrates.  They  then  emigrated  to  the  shores 
of  Phoenicia,  carrying  the  name  Canaan,  or,  as  they 
pronounced  it,  Chna,  "  the  low-lying,"  to  their  new 
inheritance  on  the  shores  of  Phoenicia.  Their  asso- 
ciations were  Shemitic  and  their  language  also, 
although  they  were  by  descent  Hamitic. 

The  temples  still  standing  in  the  times  of  the 
Romans  upon  the  islands  in  the  Persian  Gulf  were 
Phoenician,  and  the  inhabitants  claimed  to  be  the 
original  stock  of  the  famous  race  of  Palestine.*  "  Ca- 
naanite "  in  after  times  became  the  term  used  to 
signify  a  merchant  or  trader,  from  the  habits  of  the 
people.f 

16.  The  people  of  Heth,  another  son  of  Ca- 
naan, became  in  later  times  a  very  powerful  nation, 
whose  history  has  only  recently  been  brought  to 
light.  Their  name  as  Hittites  has  been  found  in  the 
Egyptian  records,  from  which  it  is  shown  that  at  one 
time,  so  early  as  that  of  Moses,  they  were  sufficiently 
powerful  to  resist  the  forces  of  the  king,  Rameses  II., 
of  Egypt.  On  one  of  the  Egyptian  monuments  they 
are  represented  as  making  a  treaty  with  the  Egyp- 
tian monarch  which  was  as  favorable  to  them  as  to 
him,  B.  C.  1333  (Brugsch). 

*  Bertheau,  as  quoted  by  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  251,  and  Lenormant,  Vol. 
XL,  p.  144. 

t  Job  41:6;  Prov.  31:24,  where  the  word  "merchant"  is  Canaanite 
in  the  Hebrew. 


THE   SONS   OF   HAM.  4 1 

17.  Siclon,  the  city  of  that  name,  was  early  a 
fishing  station  of  the  Phoenicians  on  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean  west  of  the  Lebanon  Mountains,  twen- 
ty-two miles  north  of  Tyre.  This  place,  now  in 
existence,  yet  bears  the  name  of  the  ancient  son  of 
Canaan. 

18.  The  Canaaiiites  were  " spread  abroad"  over 
what  is  now  known  as  Palestine,  from  Sidon  to  Gaza 
and  Gerar,  "  as  thou  goest  to  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
and  Admah  and  Zeboim,  even  unto  Lasha,"  Gen. 
10 :  19.  Gaza  is  well  known,  being  150  miles  south- 
west of  Sidon  and  about  two  miles  from  the  shore  of 
the  Mediterranean,  and  is  now  a  town  of  15,000  in- 
habitants. Sodom  and  Gomorrah  are  not  certainly 
located,  being  by  some  supposed  to  have  been  at  the 
south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  but  by  others  at  the 
north  end.  Neither  of  the  remaining  names  can  be 
identified  with  any  known  sites.  But  it  is  plain  that 
the  Canaanites  occupied  the  whole  of  Palestine  west 
of  the  Jordan  and  as  far  north  as  the  Lebanon  Mount- 
ains, the  Arvadites  and  Hamathites  extending  be- 
yond them  more  than  130  miles  north  of  Sidon. 
See  the  map. 


42  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE   DESCENDANTS   OF   SHEM.      JOB. 

1.  The  descendants  of  Shem  are  next  given : 
{a)  Elam  was  north  of  the  Persian  Gulf  and  east  of 
the  Tigris ;  Shushan  was  its  capital  in  later  times. 
{d)  ASSHUR  was  the  origin  of  the  name  Assyria.  The 
Assyrian  monuments  show  that  Nineveh  was  built 
after  Babylon,  and  that  the  Assyrians  were  a  later 
people  than  the  Babylonians  and  derived  their  litera- 
ture from  them,  and  also  that  they  were  a  Shemitic 
nation.  (<r)  Arphaxad  was  settled  north  of  Assyria 
on  the  table -land  between  Oroomiah  and  Van. 
{d)  LuD  appears  to  be  represented  by  Lydia  in  west- 
ern Asia  Minor,  though  at  first  it  was  a  wider  dis- 
trict, {e)  Aram  settled  in  Syria  near  the  Upper 
Euphrates,  and  as  far  west  as  the  Upper  Lebanon 
Mountains  north  of  Palestine,  which  we  learn  from 
the  Assyrian  inscriptions.  The  four  children  of 
Aram  are  Uz,  Hul,  Gether,  and  Mash.  Uz  is 
thought  to  be  the  district  east  of  the  Jordan  known 
as  the  Hauran,  parts  of  which  are  very  fertile.  This 
was  the  land  of  Job,  and  is  reckoned  in  Arabia  by 
Josephus.*  The  remaining  three  names  are  associa- 
ted with  the  following  lands:  first,  Hul,  with  el-Hu- 
leh,  a  region  in  Northern  Palestine,  at  the  head- waters 

*  "Antiquities,"  Vol.  I.,  ^6:4. 


THE   DESCENDANTS    OF   SHEM.  43 

of  the  Jordan ;  second,  Gether,  with  the  district  of 
Itursea  between  the  waters  of  the  lake  el-Huleh  and 
Uz ;  third  Mash,  with  a  site  known  as  Maisel  Jebel. 
But  these  identifications  are  only  probable. 

2.  Arphaxad  had  a  sou  Salah  who  begat  Eber, 
whose  descendants  were  the  ancestors  of  Abraham 
through  Peleg,  in  whose  days  "was  the  earth  divi- 
ded." Peleg  appears  to  have  settled  near  the  Euphra^ 
tes,  since  a  city  named  Phaliga  once  existed  at  the 
place  where  the  river  Chaboras  falls  into  the  Euphra- 
tes from  the  east. 

3.  The  descendants  of  Peleg's  brother,  Jok- 
tan,  thirteen  in  number,  seem  to  have  found  their 
early  settlements  in  Southern  Arabia  and  as  far  south 
as  Isfor  on  the  southeast  coast,  which  is  supposed  to 
represent  the  Sephar  of  the  text,  Gen.  lo:  30. 

This  closes  a  table  which  is^  generally  considered 
to  be  the  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  ancient 
list  of  nations  in  existence. 

the  history  of  job. 

4.  This  history  is  contained  in  the  book  of  the 
same  name.  The  author  of  this' book  is  not  known. 
It  may  have  been  written  by  Job  himself.  The  his- 
tory is  that  apparently  of  a  chief  who  lived  in  the 
land  of  Uz,  which  was  probably  in  the  region  we 
have  already  described.  Many  think  that  the  land 
of  Uz  was  in  Northern  Arabia  or  in  Idumasa. 

5.  Job,  according  to  one  writer  (Wamys)  was  an 
Arabian  prince,  who  is  represented  as  living  in  his 


44  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

family  and  enjoying  a  life  of  unalloyed  prosperity, 
the  consequence  of  his  exemplary  piety  and  recti- 
tude. Suddenly  the  scene  changes,  and  this  excel- 
lent man  is  visited  by  a  series  of  overwhelming 
calamities,  which  are  the  result  of  a  transaction  which 
passed  in  the  council  of  the  Most  High,  into  the  se- 
cret of  which  the  reader  is  for  the  moment  admitted, 
as  stated  in  Job  i :  8-13.  During  his  affliction  Job  is 
visited  by  his  friends.  Instead  of  comforting  him, 
these  friends  ascribe  his  calamities  to  some  great  sin, 
for  which  he  is  now  punished.  Job's  friends  affirm 
that  great  suffering  is  a  proof  of  great  guilt,  and 
exhort  him  to  repent  and  confess!^  Job  denies  this, 
Job  4:5-31:40.  At  the  close  of  their  dialogue  an- 
other and  younger  friend  of  the  patriarch  intervenes 
to  modify  the  view  taken  by  the  others. 

6.  At  length  the  Lord  condescends  to  interpose 
in  the  controversy.  From  the  midst  of  a  whirlwind, 
in  words  of  incomparable  grandeur  and  sublimity  he 
silences  the  murmurings  of  his  servant,  bidding  him 
reflect  on  the  glory  of  creation  and  learn  the  stupend- 
ous power  and  wisdom  of  Him  whose  purposes  are 
good,  though  unexplained,  and  with  whom  it  is  use- 
less for  a  created  being  to  contend.  Thereupon  Job 
acknowledges  his  error,  and  the  whole  party  are 
convinced  of  forming  false  estimates  of  the  Lord's 
administration.  Job  is  restored  to  prosperity  and 
prays  for  his  friends,  who  are  accepted  in  their  offer- 
ing and  received  back  into  favor. 

*  Maclear,  p.  24. 


THE   DESCENDANTS    OF   SHEM.  45 

7.  The  book  of  Job,  from  internal  evidence,  is 
probably  one  of  the  earliest  productions  of  Biblical 
literature.  The  names  of  his  friends,  the  Temanite 
and  the  Shuhite,  and  the  mention  of  the  Sabaeans, 
indicate  the  Idumaean  parts  of  Northern  Arabia  as 
the  scene  of  the  history.  The  long  life  of  Job,  which 
appears  to  have  been  about  200  years,  indicates  a 
period  in  the  second  or  third  century  following  the 
Flood,  or  before  the  time  of  Abraham.  But  neither 
the  date  of  the  composition  nor  the  location  of  Uz 
can  be  settled  any  further  than  we  have  already 
stated. 

One  of  the  proofs  of  the  very  early  origin  of  this 
composition  is  found  in  its  reference  to  the  ancient 
seal.  Job  38 :  14,  which  was  rolled  over  the  clay,  cov- 
ering it  with  figures ;  hence  the  illustration  used  in 
the  above  passage.  The  cylindrical  seals  were  used 
in  the  early  Babylonian  era. 


46  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  CONFUSION  OF  TONGUES. 

1.  The  next  subject  M'-hich  is  presented  in  the 
sacred  text  is  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  the 

building  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  Gen.  11:1-10.  In 
this  passage  of  the  Scripture  history  we  have  an 
extremely  condensed  view  of  an  event  which  must 
have  been  one  of  greater  importance  than  would 
appear  from  the  very  concise  manner  in  which  it  is 
described.  All  that  we  know  from  Scripture  is  that 
a  certain  part  of  the  human  race  coming  from  the 
East  settled  upon  the  plains  of  Shinar,  and  there 
began  the  erection  of  the  highest  known  tower,  with 
the  purpose  of  making  themselves  a  name  before 
they  were  "scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth."  They  began  the  tower,  using  brick 
from  the  clay  which  abounds  upon  the  plain  of  Baby- 
lon and  bitumen,  called  "  slime  "  in  the  text,  for  mor- 
tar. During  the  building  of  this  city  and  tower  their 
language,  which  up  to  this  period  was  the  same, 
became  confused,  so  that,  being  unable  to  understand 
each  other,  they  were  forced  to  desist,  "  and  they  left 
off  to  build  the  city."     This  is  the  brief  history. 

2,  From  the  recently  discovered  Assyrian  his- 
tory, recorded  upon  the  tablets  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  it  appears  that  the  Babylonians  of  the  ear- 


THE   CONFUSION   OF   TONGUES.  47 

liest  aofes  had  a  tradition  of  this  tower  and  of  the 
sudden  confusion  of  tongues.  The  event  seems  to 
indicate  that  the  determination  of  the  early  descend- 
ants of  Noah,  probably  under  Nimrod  or  his  immedi- 
ate successors,  was  to  settle  on  the  plains  and  build  a 
vast  metropolis  and  a  tower,  whose  height  should 
serve  the  double  purpose  of  a  means  of  direction  or 
as  a  guide  to  the  city,  and  also  of  an  advertisement 
of  their  immense  wealth  and  enterprise  amid  the 
surrounding  tribes. 

3.  The  divine  intention  was,  however,  that  the 
command  given  to  Noah  and  his  descendants,  that 
they  should  replenish  the  earth,  should  be  literally 
executed,  and  it  was  the  divine  intervention  which 
prevented  all  the  people  from  remaining  in  that 
land. 

As  we  have  said,  the  word  Babel  in  the  Greek 
form  is  Babylon ;  but  the  word  which  originally 
meant  "  confusion  "  in  the  Hebrew  seems  to  have 
been  changed  from  that  form  originally  given  it  into 
Bab,  or  "  gate,"  el,  of  "  God,"  for  the  actual  original 
Hebrew  word  for  "  confusion,"  as  Buxtorf  shows 
from  the  Rabbinical  word  for  "  confusion,"  is  Bilbal, 
or  Bilbul.  Oppert*  has  shown  that  the  word  is  dis- 
tinctly of  Assyrian  derivation,  from  Balal,  to  "  con- 
found." Similar  changes  from  original  forms  have 
frequently  occurred.  Thus  Beth-lehem  is  now  Beit- 
lahm  the  former  meaning  "  house  of  bread,"  and  the 

*  Oppert,  "Journal  Asiatique,"  Vol.  X.,  p.  220;  Vol.  IX.,  p.  503. 
Lenormaiit,  "Langue  Primitive  de  la  Clialdee,"  p.  355.  Geikie,  Vol.  I., 
p.  291. 


48  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

latter  "  house  of  meat."  Borsippa,  the  name  of  the 
ruined  tower  near  Babylon,  supposed  to  be  the  Tow- 
er of  Babel,  is  now  called  Bar-Sab,  the  former  (Bor- 
sippa) meaning  the  "  tower  of  languages,"  the  latter 
(Bar  Sab)  meaning  the  "  shattered  altar,"  as  Geikie 
has  mentioned. 

4.  In  studying  the  early  parts  of  Biblical  history 
the  student  should  be  mindful  that  history  and  tra- 
ditions as  recorded  by  the  Assyrians  were  borrowed, 
or,  more  truly  speaking,  derived,  from  the  early  rec- 
ords of  the  Babylonian  and  Chaldaean  nations,  as  in 
some  cases  is  stated  upon  Assyrian  tablets.  This 
fact  we  have  illustrated,  page  26.  The  original  rec- 
ords were  kept  at  the  old  Chaldsean  city  of  Erech,  90 
miles  southeast  of  Babylon,  at  the  present  ruins  of 
Warka.  Assur-bani-pal,  the  Assyrian  king,  beside 
being  a  great  warrior,  was  also  one  who  encouraged 
literature  and  had  an  immense  library,  for  those 
days,  10,000  tablets  from  which  were  removed  to  the 
British  Museum.  In  his  time,  668-647  B.  C,  the  an- 
cient Chaldaean  tongue  was  translated  into  Assyrian, 
and  in  this  library  at  Nineveh  was  a  lexicon  of  the 
Chaldseo-Turanian  language  with  the  meaning  of 
the  words  put  in  Assyrian  cuneiform.*  This  showed 
that  so  many  years  had  passed  that  the  ancient  Chal- 
daean language  was,  at  that  time,  nearly  lost. 

5.  Those  records,  both  of  the  Chaldasan  and  of 
the  later  Assyrian  ages,  have  not  only  been  of  great 
service  to  the  student  of  ancient  history,  but  they 

*  Lenormant,  "  Ancient  History  of  the  East,"  p.  445. 


THE   CONFUSION   OF   TONGUES.  49 

have  added  much  to  the  explanation  and  corrobora- 
tion of  Biblical  history,  as  we  shall  hereafter  have  oc- 
casion to  show. 

6.  The-  ruins  of  both  Nineveh  and  Babylon  bear 
some  names  which  are  reminiscences  of  Nimrod, 
but  these  seem  to  have  been  applied  at  some  compar- 
atively recent  date.  The  chief  structure  bearing  the 
name  of  Nimrod  is  the  Birs  Nimrud,  or  Tower  of 
Nimrod,  ten  miles  southwest  of  the  modern  town  of 
Hillah,  which  is  near  the  ruins  of  Babylon.  The 
large  mass  of  burned  brick  at  this  place  seems  to  have 
been  originally  erected  in  the  form  of  a  steep  pyramid 
some  six  hundred  feet  in  height  and  of  the  same 
length  at  its  base.  It  is  extremely  ancient,  as  its  As- 
syrian name  proves,  which  name,  Saggatu,  "  the  high 
temple,"  is  an  old  Accadian  word. 

7.  Nebuchadnezzar,  B.  C.  604-562,  one  of  the 
greatest  builders  among  the  Babylonian  kings,  says 
of  himself  that  he  builded  additions  to  it,  although 
Tiglath-pileser  repaired  it  one  hundred  years  before. 
It  is  now  a  bare  hill  of  yellow  sand  and  bricks  a  few 
miles  west  of  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  reaching 
a  height  of  about  200  feet,  a  vast  mass  of  brick-work 
jutting  from  the  mound  to  a  further  height  of  37 
feet.  It  is  very  probable  that  these  are  the  most  an- 
cient remains  to  be  found  in  Babylonia,  and  in  its 
form  seems  to  have  furnished  a  universal  model  for 
all  succeeding  temples  and  towers  in  that  region.* 

*  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  274. 

BlUI'-al  History  (inrt  Oenjrnpliy.  "I 


50  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE   HISTORY   OF   ABRAM   AND   HIS   TIMES. 

1.  The  promise  that  in  his  seed  should  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  be  blessed  renders  the  history  of 
Abram  one  of  great  interest,  especially  as  recent  dis- 
coveries of  the  monuments  and  literature  of  ancient 
Chaldaea  have  given  us  more  correct  knowledge  of 
those  early  ages  than  had  been  acquired  for  more 
than  3,000  years.  In  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Genesis, 
beginning  at  the  tenth  verse,  is  given  the  ancestry 
of  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Hebrews.  Abram, 
afterward  called  Abraham,  for  reasons  stated  in  chap- 
ter 17:5,  was  the  ninth  from  Shem.  Until  the  birth 
of  Abram  his  ancestors  appear  to  have  lived  in  the 
region  known  as  Chaldaea.  Abram's  birthplace  was 
Ur,  1 50  miles  southeast  of  Babylon  and  a  few  miles 
west  of  the  Euphrates.  The  ruins  of  Ur  include,  at 
the  present  day,  a  part  of  an  ancient  temple  dedicated 
to  the  moon.  This  temple  seems  to  have  been  erect- 
ed many  years  before  the  days  of  Abram.  A  vast 
number  of  tombs  surround  it  and  the  city,  in  the 
times  of  Abram,  must  have  been  a  place  for  burial 
and  considered  sacred.  Eupolemus,  a  Greek  writer 
who  is  quoted  by  Eusebius,  speaks  of  it  in  his  time, 
about  446  B.  C,  as  "  the  place  of  the  Chaldees."  *    Its 

-  "  Prcep.  Evang.,"  IX.,  17.     Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  295. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ABRAM    AND    HIS   TIMES.  5 1 

ruins  on  a  vast  mound  are  so  largely  cemented  witli 
bitumen  that  this  fact  has  given  rise  to  its  present 
name,  Mugheir,  which  means  "bitumen."  The  tab- 
lets and  bricks  bear  the  ancient  name  of  Ur  as  well 
as  the  names  of  its  earliest  kings  and  the  builder  of 
its  temples. 

2,  Although  at  the  present  day  the  Persian  Gulf 
is  about  140  miles  distant  from  Ur,  only  the  deposits 
from  the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris  have  removed 
the  waters  of  the  gulf  to  this  distance.  Certain  coast 
marks  show  that  the  sea  must  have  sent  its  waters 
up  the  river  to  a  distance  of  nearly,  if  not  quite,  124 
miles,  and  in  the  time  of  Abram  Ur  must  have  been 
a  maritime  city. 

3.  From  this  city  Terali,  Abram's  father,  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  Haran.  This  city  was  580 
miles  northwest  of  Ur  on  the  banks  of  a  small  tribu- 
tary stream  which  runs  seventy  miles  southward  be- 
fore it  joins  the  Euphrates.  Both  Ur  and  Haran  were 
the  seats  of  the  Moon-god,  called  "  Sin  "  in  the  Chal- 
dee  language.  This  deity  was  masculine  in  the  same 
language  and  the  Sun-god  was  feminine,  as  is  appar- 
ent from  the  omens  of  that  day  as  seen  in  the  follow- 
ing translations  of  certain  priestly  utterances  and  di- 
rections by  Prof.  Sayce.* 

Of  the  month  Elul  it  is  said :  He  shall  make  his 
free-will  offering  to  the  Sun,  the  mistress  of  the 
world,  and  to  the  Moon,  the  supreme  god.  .  .  .     The 

®  A.  H.  Sayce  in  the  "  Hibbert  Lectures,"  1887.    See  also  in  "Old 
Testament  Student,"  1887,  p.  134. 


52  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

fifteenth  day  is  sacred  to  the  Sun,  the  Lady  of  the 
House  of  Heaven.  .  .  .  The  Moon  the  Lord  of  the 
month. 

4.  Ill  this  age  we  read  that  the  seventh  day  was 
"  a  day  of  rest,"  and  the  very  ancient  name  for  "  rest  " 
was  very  similar  to  the  word  Sabbath  used  in  the 
Hebrew,  and  special  observance  of  the  day  was  or- 
dered by  the  priests ;  thus  "  the  shepherd  of  mighty 
nations  (king)  must  not  eat  flesh  cooked  on  the  fire 
or  in  the  smoke.  He  must  not  drive  a  chariot.  He 
must  not  issue  royal  decrees ;  the  lifting  up  of  his 
hands  finds  favor  with  the  god,"  etc.* 

5.  It  is  plain  therefore  that  the  seventh  day 
was  a  day  of  rest,  a  sacred  day,  in  the  time  of  ancient 
Babylonish  kings.  It  was  so  in  the  era  of  earliest 
Chaldasan  records,  and  it  was  not  an  institution  de- 
rived only  from  the  Jewish  nation,  but  the  day  was 
regarded  as  a  Sabbath  among  the  Chaldaeans  in  the 
time  and  long  before  the  days  of  Abram,  for  the 
records  above  translated  and  preserved  in  the  library 
of  Assur-bani-pal,  King  of  Assyria,  as  we  have  said, 
page  26,  were  derived  from  far  more  ancient  records, 
existing  even  before  the  Deluge,  of  which  latter  event 
they  give  a  history.  So  that  the  Chaldaean  records 
of  the  Creation,  the  Deluge,  and  the  Sabbath  may 
very  reasonably  have  been  derived  from  one  and  the 
same  source. 

6.  The  name  Abram  is  of  Babylonish-Assyrian 
derivation,  but  was  changed  by  the  Lord  into  Abra- 

*  Sayce,  translation  as  referred  to  in  previous  note. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ABRAM   AND    HIS   TIMES.  53 

ham,  which  was  a  purely  Hebrew  name,  as  is  record- 
ed in  Gen.  17:  5.* 

7.  It  is  not  stated  how  long  Terah  remained 
in  Ur  after  the  birth  of  Abram,  Nahor,  and  Haran, 
but  the  removal  was  not  made  until  Lot  was  born  to 
Haran  and  until  the  death  of  the  latter.  Then  Terah 
left  Ur  for  Haran,  six  hundred  miles  northwest, 
where  they  remained  probably  many  years  (see  Gen. 
12:5). 

8.  The  fact  that  Ahram's  name  occurs  first 
in  the  mention  of  the  three  is  no  proof,  judging  from 
the  Scripture  method  of  naming  sons,  that  Abram 
was  the  oldest,  but  only  that  he  was  the  most  im- 
portant character,  for  Shem  is  mentioned  first  in  the 
three  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth,  although  Japheth  is 
called  the  elder.  Gen.  10:  21,  Shem  being  the  most 
important  as  the  head  of  the  Hebrew  race. 

Abram  was  probably  born  when  Terah  was  130 
years  old,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  is  no 
good  reason  for  supposing  that  the  three  sons  of 
Terah  were  born  in  the  same  year,  but  only  that  one 
of  the  three  mentioned  (Gen.  1 1  :  26)  was  born  when 
Terah  was  70  years  of  age  and  the  two  others  at 
some  time  after.  If  Abram  was  born  when  Terah 
was  130  and  lived  to  be  75  years  old  at  the  death  of 
his  father,  his  father's  age  would  have  been  205  as 
given  in  the  text.  It  seems  that  Haran  was  the  elder 
of  the  three,  though  mentioned  last  as  in  the  case  of 
Noah's  three  sons. 

*  See  Herzog,  article  "  Ur." 


54  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

9.  Abrani,  at  the  call  of  the  Lord,  left  with  a 
large  retinue  of  servants  and  crossed  the  Euphrates 
and  came  into  Canaan,  probably  by  the  way  of  Da- 
mascus. He  immediately  entered  into  the  land 
known  then  as  Canaan,  and  the  first  place  named  on 
his  way  is  "  Sichem,  unto  the  plain  of  Moreh."  Si- 
chem  is  the  place  also  called  Shechem,  and  the  word 
Sichem  is  in  the  Hebrew  precisely  the  same  as  She- 
chem, the  variation  being  one  due  only  to  the  trans- 
lator of  the  Hebrew  name  into  English. 

10.  Shecliein  is  almost  exactly  half  way  between 
Dan  on  the  north  and  Beersheba  on  the  south.  It 
was  therefore  not  till  Abram  arrived  in  the  midst 
of  the  land  that  he  erected  an  altar  to  Jehovah  after 
the  Lord  had  promised  that  to  his  seed  He  would  give 
this  land,  Gen.  I2:  7.  Various  tribes  of  Canaanites 
occupied  the  whole  future  land  of  Israel,  Gen.  10:  ig. 

11.  The  plain  of  Moreh  was  a  mile  east  of  the 
city,  or  town,  of  Shechem.  It  is  evident  that  both 
Moreh  and  Shechem  were  names  of  Canaanites,  as 
Shechem  is  seen  in  Gen.  33  ;  34;  Num.  26:  31  ;  Josh. 
17:  2,  and  other  places,  as  a  personal  name. 

13.  The  word  translated  "plain"  is  equally  appli- 
cable to  a  grove  of  trees,  and  it  may  be  that  Abram 
chose  this  grove  as  a  shelter  from  the  heat.  Twenty- 
seven  miles  north  of  Shechem  is  probably  the  hill 
called  in  Judg.  7:1,  after  the  same  person,  the  hill 
of  Moreh.  The  city  of  Shochen,  which  exists  at  the 
present  time,  is  between  the  high  hills  of  Gerizim 
on  the  south  and  Ebal  on  the  north. 


THE   HISTORY    OF   ABRAM    AND    HIS   TIMES.  55 

For  the  reasons  why  the  word  "  plain  "  should 
be  rendered  *'oak"  see  Josh.  24:26  and  Judg.  9:6, 
wherein  it  is  evident  that  a  pillar  by  the  oak  is  meant. 
Also  see  that  the  word  "  oak  "is  in  the  Hebrew  ex- 
actly the  same  as  that  translated  "  plain  "  in  the  text 
referred  to  above,  Gen.  12:6,  and  this  identical  oak 
seems  to  have  been  used  for  an  important  purpose 
many  years  after.  In  Deut.  11 :  30  the  name  is  in 
the  plural,  leading  us  to  suppose  that  it  was  a  grove 
continuing  through  many  centuries.  Groves  always 
were  important  and  sometimes  sacred,  as  it  appears 
from  the  action  of  Abraham,  for  in  Gen.  21 :  33  it  is 
stated  that  "  Abraham  planted  a  grove  in  Beersheba 
and  called  there  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  ever- 
lasting God." 

13.  The  next  place  visited  by  Abram  was  an 
unknown  place  between  Bethel  and  Hai.*  Bethel 
was  not  so  named  until  160  years  afterwards,  by  Ja- 
cob, Gen.  28  :  19.  Hai  and  Aif  are  the  same,  and 
this  place  was  probably  a  Canaanitish  town  at  this 
time.  The  distance  south  of  Shechem  was  20  miles 
to  the  place  occupied  by  the  patriarch,  where  he 
seems  to  have  remained  only  to  build  an  altar  and 
then  moved  on,  evidently  seeking  pasture  for  his 
flocks  and  herds. 

EGYPT   FIRST   MENTIONED. 

14.  The  name  of  Egypt  occurs  now  for  the  first 
time  in  Scripture,  and  we  may  judge  of  its  import- 

*  Pronounced  ha'-i.  f  Pronounced  a'-i. 


56  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

ance  from  the  fact  that  the  name  occurs  six  hundred 
and  thirteen  times,  twenty-four  of  which  number  are 
to  be  found  in  the  New  Testament.  In  this  instance 
the  mention  is  made  about  1920  B.  C.,*  and  the 
kingdom  is  referred  to  as  fully  established  and  well 
known. 

The  occasion  of  Abram's  visit  was  the  famine 
existing  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  Abram  journeys 
southward  with  the  intention  of  entering  Egypt  to 
provide  sustenance  for  himself  and  his  retinue 
against  this  famine. 

15.  The  condition  of  Egypt  at  or  just  before 
the  time  of  Abram's  first  visit  was  one  of  great  pros- 
perity. The  reigning  Pharaohs,  generally  called 
those  of  the  twelfth  dynasty,  were  most  probably 
the  Usertesens  and  the  Amen-emhats.  Under  this 
dynasty  the  sceptres  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  were 
united.  All  the  kings  were  powerful  and  prosperous 
and  art  flourished,  the  Sun  temple  at  Heliopolis  (six 
miles  northeast  of  the  present  Cairo)  was  magnifi- 
cently restored,  and  in  the  Fayum  on  the  west  of  the 
Nile  (about  50  miles  southwest  of  Cairo)  the  practice 
of  building  pyramids  was  revived.  Here  was  the 
vast  lake  or  inland  sea  made  by  Amen-emhat  III.,  to 
receive  the  overplus  waters  of  the  annual  overflow 
of  the  Nile  and  to  distribute  them  in  case  of  need. 
This  king  also  built  the  great  labyrinth  in  the  Fa- 
yum, the  latter  name  being  an  alteration  of  the 
Egyptian  word  for  "  sea,"  namely  "-Piomy 

*  Hale's  date  is  B.  C.  2078. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ABRAM   AND   HIS   TIMES.  57 

16.  During  this  period  fortifications  were  erected 
on  the  northeastern  frontier  of  Egypt,  which  appear 
to  have  extended  across  the  whole  of  the  present 
isthmus  of  Suez  {Socin).  The  term  Shur  used  six 
times  in  Scripture  is  now  supposed  to  refer  to  this 
"  wall."* 

17.  As  the  pyramids  of  Gizeh  were  built  in 
the  fourth  dynasty  (the  most  recent  date  of  which 
is  given  by  Wilkinson  as  2450  B.  C),  they  had 
been  in  existence  more  than  400  years  before 
Abram's  visit.  The  Sphinx  was  then  existing  also, 
as  seems  probable  from  an  inscription  found  by  M. 
Mariette,  which  indicates  that  there  was  a  "  temple 
of  the  Sphinx  "  in  the  time  of  Cheops,f  the  builder 
of  the  great  pyramid.  It  seems  also  probable  that 
the  rule  of  the  foreigners,  called  the  Shepherd  Kings, 
had  begun  before  Abram's  visit. 

18.  These  foreigners  took  possession  of  Lower 
Egypt  and  drove  the  original  rulers  up  the  Nile  to 
Thebes  and  other  parts  of  Upper  Egypt.  Long 
before  this  period  emigrants  from  the  East  had  been 
admitted  to  Egypt  and  had  settled  in  various  places 
upon  the  rich  lands  of  the  Delta,  until,  finding  them- 
selves sufficiently  powerful,  they  usurped  all  author- 
ity without  a  battle.  They  were  called  the  Shepherd 
kings,  or  Hyksos,  from  what  was  supposed  to  be  their 
employment.    They  governed  Lower  Egypt  for  about 

*  Gen.  16:7;  20:1;    25:18;  Exod.   15:22;   i  Sam.  15:7;  27:8.      Shur 
means  "  wall." 

t  Pronounced  Ke'-ops.  .. 

3* 


58  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

five  hundred  years,  until  they  were  finally  driven  out 
by  the  Egyptian  royal  family. 

19.  Abrani's  first  visit  seems  to  have  been 
made  at  or  near  the  beginning  of  the  Hyksos  era. 
The  most  recent  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  rule  of 
the  Shepherd  Kings  is  that  of  Wilkinson,  2091  B.  C, 
and  if  the  date  usually  given  for  the  visit  of  Abram 
was  1920  B.  C,  then  these  invaders  had  already  had 
possession  of  the  land  for  over  170  years.  Egypt 
was  therefore  renowned  and  its  rulers  were  of  a  race 
acquainted  with  the  employments  to  which  Abram 
was  not  a  stranger.  They  spoke  the  dialect  of  Ca- 
naan, as  it  is  very  evident  that  many  came  from  the 
region  of  Canaan. 

20.  In  this  age  the  horse  is  not  mentioned  as 
in  Egypt.  Oxen  and  asses  and  sheep  are  found  de- 
picted upon  the  walls  and  tablets,  but  the  horse  does 
not  appear  in  Egypt  till  the  reign  of  Thothmes  I., 
who  met  with  them  in  his  wars  in  Assyria.  This 
king  was  the  third  Pharaoh  of  the  eighteenth  dy- 
nasty.* This  dynasty  began  immediately  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Hyksos.  So  that  while  it  is  proba- 
ble that  the  horse  might  have  been  known  only  as  a 
foreign  animal,  it  was  introduced  into  Lower  Egypt 
by  Thothmes  I.,  and  Egypt  became  known  after  this 
for  its  fine  breed  of  horses,  which  took  the  place  of 
the  asses  previously  used  throughout  the  land.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  Abram's  list  of  animals  excludes 
the  horse.  Gen.  12  :  16. 

*  Wilkinson's  date  is  B.  C.  1532,  but  Brugsch  gives  it  as  B.  C.  1433. 


THE   HISTORY    OF   ABRAM   AND    HIS   TIMES.  59 

THE   FIRST   BATTLE. 

21.  The  next  important  occurrence  in  the 

history  of  Abram  is  that  of  the  first  battle  men- 
tioned in  Scripture.  Abram  had  returned  to  Canaan 
with  large  additions  to  his  herds.  This  increase 
brought  about  a  necessary  separation  between  Abram 
and  Lot.  Abram  settled  in  Hebron,  while  Lot  chose 
his  residence  in  the  region  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
the  cities  of  the  plain.  Soon  after  four  kings  from 
Chaldaea  approached  Canaan  on  a  tour  of  conquest, 
and  passing  to  the  south  and  east  of  the  Dead  Sea 
went  down  to  Mt.  Seir  and  thence  to  Kadesh,  then 
called  En-mishpat,  and  thence  north  to  Hazezon- 
tamar.  They  then  met  the  kings  of  Sodom  and  Go^ 
morrah  in  battle,  defeated  them,  and  carried  off  Lot 
and  others  captives.  Upon  knowledge  of  this  cap- 
tivity Abram  set  out  to  overtake  the  invaders.  He 
was  joined  by  the  forces  of  the  three  Amorites  con- 
federate with  him,  and  found  the  kings  at  Dan,  about 
140  miles  from  Hebron  northward,  as  they  were  leav- 
ing the  country  on  their  way  home  to  Chaldaea.  A 
battle  now  took  place  at  night,  and  the  four  kings 
were  defeated,  and  Lot  and  other  captives,  together 
with  the  stolen  goods,  were  all  retaken  and  brought 
back  in  safety. 

SODOM   AND   GOMORRAH. 

32.  Tlie  exact  location  of  these  cities  has  not 

yet  been   discovered.      They  were,  with   the   other 


6o  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

cities  of  the  plain,  situated  very  near  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  the  traditions  place  them  at  the  western  part  of 
the  southern  end,  where  there  is  a  salt  hill  five  miles 
long,  called  the  hill  of  Sodom,  Jebel  Usdjun.  There 
are  good  reasons  for  supposing  that  when  Abram 
and  Lot  stood  overlooking  the  land  from  the  heights 
near  Bethel,  Lot  chose  the  region  north  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  which  was  visible,  in  preference  to  the  southern 
part,  which  was  more  than  forty  miles  distant.  But 
from  the  Scripture  account,  considered  in  view  of  the 
evident  volcanic  nature  of  this  part  of  Palestine  and 
the  fearful  earthquakes  which  have  happened  in  the 
vicinity  in  recent  times,  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  some  terrible  convulsion  not  only  buried  the 
cities,  but  submerged  the  plain  at  the  south  end  of 
the  sea,  and  no  other  interpretation  seems  to  suit  the 
history,  which  definitely  states  that  the  plain  and  all 
that  grew  upon  it  were  destroyed,  the  water  system 
of  the  plain  being  all  entirely  changed.  The  sub- 
merged plain  at  the  south,  therefore,  which  is  cov- 
ered for  the  area  of  about  fifty  square  miles  with 
water  only  a  few  feet  deep,  has  given  occasion  for 
the  theory  that  the  cities  of  the  plain  are  to  be  sought 
beneath  these  waters,  which  are  by  some  supposed  to 
cover  the  vale  of  Siddim. 

33.  Hazezoii-tamar  is  the  same  as  En-gedi, 
2  Chron.  20 : 2.  It  is  upon  the  west  shore  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  twenty-three  miles  south  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Jordan.  Hobah,  whither  Abram  pursued  the 
kings,  is  two  miles  north  of  Damascus. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ABRAM   AND   HIS   TIMES.         6l 

34.  Abram  was  near  Hebron,  twenty  miles 
west  of  the  Dead  Sea,  when  the  news  reached  him 
of  the  defeat  of  the  kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
and  the  capture  of  Lot.  Hebron  is  almost  equidis- 
tant from  the  north  and  south  ends  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
at  an  elevation  of  nearly  3,000  feet  above  the  Med- 
iterranean, while  the  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea  are 
1,293  feet  below  those  of  the  Mediterranean, 

35.  The  recent  discoveries  in  Chaldfea  and 
the  surrounding  countries  show  that  the  names  of 
these  four  kings — Amraphel  king  of  Shinar,  Arioch 
king  of  Ellasar,  Chedorlaomer  king  of  Elam,  and 
Tidal  king  of  nations,  are  names  which  have  in 
large  part  been  found  on  the  tablets  and  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  countries  mentioned.  Amraphel  is  the 
same  in  the  Hebrew  as  Amarphal,  and  it  was  so 
translated  in  the  Septuagint  made  more  than  250 
B.  C.  This  name  was  that  of  a  viceroy  of  Sumir,  the 
district  around  and  south  of  Babylon,  called  Shinar 
in  Genesis,  and  the  name  Amar-pal  has  been  found 
"  borne  by  private  persons  on  two  cylinders  of  an- 
cient workmanship  "  (Lenormant).  The  Septuagint 
has  for  Tidal,  Thargal,  which  seems  to  be  the  proper 
spelling ;  the  difference  between  the  two  spellings  in 
the  original  Hebrew  is  only  that  between  an  r  and  a 
d,  which  in  that  language  is  exceedingly  small.  In 
the  Akkadian  (same  as  Accadian),  which  was  the 
language  used  in  the  ancient  Chaldasan  times,  Tur- 
gal  meant  "  great  chief."*    This  king  was  chief  of  a 

*■  Sir  Henry  Ravvlinsoii. 


62  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

people  called  the  Gutium  in  the  monumental  inscrip- 
tions, and  this  tribe  or  small  nation  has  been  identi- 
fied with  the  Goim  of  the  Hebrew  text,  which  in  our 
English  version  is  translated  "  nations."  So  that  the 
"  Tidal  king  of  nations,"  of  the  text  in  Genesis,  is 
shown  to  be  the  "  great  chief  "  of  a  tribe  living  in 
Northern  Babylonia,  of  which  one  part  became  after- 
wards the  nation  of  the  Assyrians.* 

Chedorlaomer,  the  monuments  show  us,  was 
truly  an  Elamite  name,  Chedor,  or  Kudur,  forming 
part  of  several  names  of  the  early  kings  of  that  dis- 
trict, and  Laomer,  or  Lagamar,  being  the  name  of  a 
most  important  Elamite  god.  The  name  Arioch  is 
very  similar  to  that  of  the  son  of  an  Elamite  king 
who  was  king  of  Larsa,  which  itself  is  similar  to  the 
Hebrew  name  Ellasar,  and  the  circumstances  have 
led  the  best  Assyriologists  to  believe  that  they  are 
the  very  same. 

26.  The  moimmeiital  records  show  that  this 
king  of  Elam,  on  a  previous  occasion,  when  Abram 
was  still  at  Haran,  had  passed  over  the  Euphrates 
and  conquered  Phoenicia  and  a  country  to  the  south. 
He  is  called  both  king  of  Elam  and  king  of  Phoenicia, 
as  the  land  of  Canaan  was  called  by  name  "  Martu," 
"  the  land  of  the  setting  sun,"  or  Phoenicia.  So  that 
14  years  before,  at  the  time  when  Chedorlaomer 
crossed  the  Euphrates  on  his  first  expedition,  Abram 
may  have  beheld  the  troops  of  that  king  whom  he 

*  "  La  Langue  Primitive,"   p.   376;  in    Tomkin's  "Times  of  Abra- 
ham," p.  181. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   ABRAM   AND    HIS   TIMES.         63 

afterward  conquered,  with  his  viceroys,  when  they 
came  on  their  second  invasion  of  Canaan.  At  that 
time  Abram  was  with  his  father  Terah  at  Haran,  as 
we  may  see  from  the  dates  in  the  context.  Gen.  16:3; 
14:5. 

THE    ISHMAELITES. 

27.  Some  years  after  this  battle  we  have  the 
account  of  the  birth  of  Ishmael,  the  son  of  Abram  by 
Hagar.  As  the  descendants  of  Ishmael  exerted  great 
influence  in  years  afterward,  it  is  well  at  this  point 
to  study  the  early  history  of  this  son  of  Abram. 
When  Isaac  was  born  Ishmael  was  about  16  years  of 
age.  Gen.  17 :  21,  25  ;  21  :  i,  8,  and  until  the  day  of  the 
divine  promise  to  Abram,  at  which  time  his  name  was 
changed  to  Abraham,  he  was  evidently,  from  the 
context,  greatly  attached  to  Ishmael.  Moreover, 
Abram  was  considered  by  his  neighbors  as  "  a  mighty 
prince  among  them,"  Gen.  23:6.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances this  only  son  must  have  been  allowed 
privileges  and  attentions  at  the  hands  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  Abram  *s  servants  such  as  an  heir  apparent 
to  all  the  wealth  of  Abram  would  be  certain  to  re- 
ceive. When,  however,  Sarah  became  the  mother  of 
Isaac  a  change  necessarily  transpired.  Ishmael  was 
no  longer  the  expected  heir.  Hagar's  spirit  of  self- 
importance,  which  showed  itself  before  so  positively 
that  she  was  forced  to  leave  the  family,  was  now  re- 
peated in  some  disagreeable  actions  of  her  son  Ish- 
mael, and,  despite  the  persistent  love  of  Abraham, 


64  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Ishmael  and  his  mother  were  summarily  dismissed 
from  the  family. 

28.  There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
the  action  of  Abraham  in  sending  Hagar  and  her 
son  out  upon  the  desert  with  only  sufficient  food  to 
support  them  for  a  time  was  greatly  or  almost  en- 
tirely influenced  by  the  direct  revelation  to  Abraham 
that  the  divine  interference  would  be  exerted  on  be- 
half of  the  exiles.  That  had  been  assured,  as  we  see 
in  verses  1 2  and  1 3  of  chapter  2 1 .  At  the  same  time 
both  the  mother  and  son,  after  all  the  preceding 
years  of  privilege,  would  naturally  imagine  that  a 
great  wrong  had  been  done  them,  and  Ishmael  read- 
ily became  a  wild  wanderer  upon  the  vast  deserts 
east  of  Egypt. 

He  was  the  progenitor  of  twelve  great  tribes 
whose  names  in  part  are  recognized  among  some  of 
the  tribes  existing  at  the  present  day  and  whose 
characters  are  accurately  represented  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  what  they  were  to  be,  as  it  occurs  in  Gen. 
16:12,  and  the  expression  "  he  shall  dwell  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  brethren  "  simply  alludes  to  the  fact  that 
his  race  should  be  wanderers  upon  the  desert  with- 
out any  fixed  habitation,  this  being  the  life  of  all 
the  most  pleasurable  to  the  desert  Arabs. 

29,  As  Abraham  was  99  years  of  age  when 
Ishmael  was  13,  Gen.  17 :  24,  25,  and  died  at  175,  it  is 
plain  that  Ishmael  must  have  been  about  go  years  of 
age  at  Abraham's  death.  The  love  and  reverence 
which  Ishmael  had  for  the  patriarch  were  apparent 


THE   HISTORY   OF  ABRAM   AND    HIS   TIMES.         65 

after  this  long  time  in  the  fact  that  at  the  death  of 
the  latter,  Isaac  and  Ishmael  united  to  perform  the 
burial  at  the  cave  of  Machpelah  at  Hebron,  Gen. 
25:9. 

HEBRON   AND    MACHPELAH. 

30.  Hebron  is  a  very  old  city,  having  been  found- 
ed long  before  Abram's  time,  and  it  is  in  existence  at 
present.  It  is  south  of  Jerusalem  eighteen  miles, 
and  is  unlike  nearly  all  the  cities  in  Palestine  in  that 
it  is  situated  in  a  valley.  The  cave  of  Machpelah 
is  on  the  east  side  of  the  valley,  which  runs  nearly 
north  and  south. 

This  city  becomes  important  in  Biblical  history 
at  the  time  when  Sarah,  the  wife  of  Abraham,  died, 
and  then  this  cave  was  purchased  by  Abraham  as  a 
family  burying-place.  It  was  the  first  spot  possessed 
by  any  of  the  ancestors  of  the  Hebrew  race  in  Pales- 
tine. Here  Sarah  and  Abraham  were  buried  and 
in  after  times  Leah  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob's  remains 
were,  by  his  desire,  removed  from  Egypt  and  placed 
by  the  side  of  his  wife  Leah. 

Although  Hebron  has  suffered  several  attacks  and 
partial  destruction,  it  is  probable  that  the  sacredness 
of  the  place  may  have  protected  it  so  that  the  actual 
remains  of  some  of  the  bodies  deposited  there  may 
yet  be  there,  under  Moslem  guardianship. 

After  the  birth  of  Isaac,  Abraham  remained 
in  the  region  of  Gerar,  whose  precise  location  is  not 
known,  although  it  must  have  been  in  the  southwest 

BilillcHl  HiBtoiy  iinil  Geo«nip:i.v. 


66  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

of  Canaan  and  in  the  land  of  the  Philistines.     From 
thence  he  removed  to  Beersheba.* 

BEERSHEBA  AND   GERAR. 

31.  Beerslieba  bears,  at  the  present  day,  the 
same  name  and  contains  two  wells,  one  about  1 2  feet 
in  diameter,  the  other  about  5  feet.  The  larger  ap- 
pears to  be  very  old  and  may  well  have  existed  since 
the  days  of  the  patriarch.  It  is  about  40  feet  deep  to 
the  water  and  is  still  used  daily  by  the  Arabs.  The 
exact  distance  from  Hebron  to  Beersheba  is  twenty- 
six  and  a  half-  miles  southwest.  There  are  some 
ruins  24  miles  southwest  by  south  from  Beersheba, 
called  Umel  Jerar,  which  possibly  may  indicate  where 
the  ancient  Gerar  was. 

33.  From  Beersheba  Abraham  travelled  with  Isaac 
to  Mt.  Moriali,  which  was  at  the  present  site  of 
Jerusalem  and  distant  in  an  air  line  45  miles  north- 
east. Here  his  obedience  and  faith  were  severely 
tried  in  the  command  to  offer  up,  as  a  burnt-offering, 
his  only  son  Isaac.  This  act  might  have  been  more 
trying  to  the  faith  of  Abraham  because  it  was  the 
practice  of  the  Canaanites  at  that  time.  That  the 
immolation  of  children  was  practised  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians at  that  age  and  in  the  land  of  Chaldaea  is  proved 
by  an  Accadian  text  which  expressly  states  that  sin 
may  be  expiated  by  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  the 
eldest  son.f    In  after  times  it  was  practised  by  the 

*  Bir  es  Seba  in  the  Arabic  is  the  same  as  Beersheba  in  the  Hebrew, 
t  Saj'ce,  "Ancient  Empires,"  p.  200. 


THE   HISTORY    OF   ABRAM  AND   HIS   TIMES.         6/ 

Moabites,  2  Kings  3  :  27.  But  Abraham's  faith  never 
failed  him,  and  the  offering  was  accepted,  though 
the  act  was  arrested. 

33.  Abraham  after  this  purchased  the  cave 
of  Machpelah,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  where  Sarah 
was  buried,  and  he  himself  was  laid  away  in  the 
same  place  at  his  death,  having  given  all  his  possess- 
ions to  his  son  Isaac,  except  some  smaller  gifts  to  his 
other  children  by  his  second  wife  Keturah,  when  he 
sent  them  away  from  Isaac  his  son  "  unto  the  east 
country." 

34.  The  character  of  Abraham  has  been  re- 
vered among  the  Jews,  Mohammedans,  and  Chris- 
tians alike  in  all  ages  and  parts  of  the  world.  His 
tomb  now  existing  at  Hebron  is  among  the  very  few 
places  in  the  East  about  which  there  has  never  been 
any  doubt.  The  structure,  now  a  mosque,  is  a  Mo- 
hammedan addition  to  a  building  which  was  in  part 
erected  near  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 


68  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   PATRIARCHS   ISAAC   AND   JACOB. 

1.  Isaac,  as  appears  from  sacred  history,  towards 
the  close  of  his  father's  life,  dwelt  in  the  **  south 
country,"  a  term  given  to  the  large  district  far  to  the 
south  of  Hebron,  where  also  Abraham  was  probably 
living  at  the  same  time. 

The  exact  place  called  Beer-lahai-roi,  or  ''the 
spring  of  Lahai-roi,"  is  not  known,  but  it  was  that 
spring,  called  a  "  well,"  which  was  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  the  first  departure  of  Hagar,  and  it  was 
evidently  on  the  way  towards  Egypt,  between  Kadesh 
and  Bered,  some  thirty  miles  nearly  south  of  Beer- 
sheba. 

2.  The  iiastures  were  excellent  here,  and  Isaac, 
now  about  40  years  of  age,  had  come  into  possession 
of  large  herds  whose  care  devolved  upon  him.  It 
was  here  that  he  received  his  wife,  whom  his  father 
Abraham  had  selected  for  him  from  among  his  kin- 
dred in  the  far-off  land  of  Mesopotamia  in  preference 
to  the  people  of  the  land  where  he  dwelt,  who  were 
Hittites,  and  descendants  of  Canaan  the  son  of  Ham, 
Abraham  being  a  descendant  of  Shem.  The  Phi- 
listines who  dwelt  on  the  southwest  coast  of  Canaan 
and  of  whom  the  Abimelech  of  the  text  was  king, 
were  formerly  a  mixed  race.      In  this  age  they  are 


THE   PATRIARCHS   ISAAC   AND   JACOB.  69 

considered  to  be  the  immediate  descendants  of  a 
tribe  which  took  possession  of  the  dry,  salt  region 
stretching  from  the  Delta  of  the  Nile  on  the  coast 
around  towards  Canaan.  Here,  in  early  times,  they 
became  the  great  salt  producers  and  of  great  im- 
portance to  the  salt  fisheries  which  supplied  vari- 
ous surrounding  countries.  The  Mt.  Casios  in  their 
territory  was  the  "  Kas-lokh,"  or  "  dry  "  "  burnt  up 
hill "  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  hence  the  name  of 
Casluhim,  of  the  Hebrew  text,  as  that  of  the  peo- 
ple from  whom  the  Philistines  were  derived,  Gen. 
10:  14. 

3.  They  seem  many  years  before  to  have  left  the 
Phoenician  shores  and  settled  near  the  coast  of  the 
Egyptian  Delta.  Thence  they  moved  to  the  salt 
regions,  but  they  adapted  themselves  fully  to  the 
Egyptian  method  of  life  and  literature,  as  appears 
from  their  history  gathered  from  the  ancient  rec- 
ords. These  records  have  fully  corroborated  the 
statement  of  Genesis.* 

4.  In  the  time  of  Abram  they  had  taken  pos- 
session of  the  southwestern  part  of  Palestine  and 
had  largely  modified  their  habits  of  life.  They  are 
represented  on  the  monuments  of  Egypt  as  fine- 
looking  warriors,  wearing  a  head-dress  of  peculiar 
and  very  ornamental  form,  with  the  back  of  the  neck 
protected,  and  when  marching,  moving  in  great  or- 
der, using  the  javelin  and  the  short  sword  for  close 
combat. 

*  We  have  mentioned  them  on  page  37. 


70  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

5.  At  this  time,  about  B.  C.  1800,  the  Philis- 
tines had  not  arrived  at  that  condition  of  power  and 
wealth  which  they  possessed  in  later  centuries.  They 
afterward  became  most  formidable  enemies  of  the 
Israelites,  and  possessed  at  least  five  grand  cities. 
In  this  era  of  their  history  Gerar  seems  to  be  the 
residence  of  the  king,  Abimelech,  as  it  was  of  his 
father  of  the  same  name  in  the  time  of  Abraham, 
90  years  before.  Being  a  small  tribe,  its  king  was 
anxious  to  form  an  alliance  with  Isaac,  whose  house- 
hold and  possessions  had  become  very  great,  and, 
judging  from  the  context,  his  retinue  of  servants 
and  his  wealth  exceeded  all  that  Abraham  had  pos- 
sessed before  him. 

0.  There  are,  at  present,  two  wells  at  Beersheba 
of  the  same  general  architecture,  and  both  seem  to 
be  very  ancient.  The  one  about  300  feet  off  from 
the  large  one,  spoken  of  before,  is  only  about  five 
feet  in  diameter.  As  the  men  of  Gerar,  at  Abraham's 
death,  filled  up  "  all  the  wells  "  built  by  the  patri- 
arch, it  is  probable  that  the  second  well  was  dug  by 
the  servants  of  Isaac  and  called  also  Beersheba  as 
commemorative  of  the  second  oath  of  treaty  made  by 
Abimelech,  the  second  of  that  same  name  men- 
tioned in  Scripture,  and  his  commander-in-chief,  as 
Phicol  means. 

The  life  of  Isaac  seems  to  have  been  spent 
chiefly  in  the  region  of  Beersheba,  but  he  died  at 
Hebron,  at  the  age  of  180  years.  Esau  and  Jacob 
are  his  only  sons  named  in  the  sacred  history. 


THE   PATRIARCHS   ISAAC   AND   JACOB.  /I 

JACOB. 

7.  Jacob  was  a  native  of  Beersheba,  and,  having 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  his  brother  Esau  by  the 
practice  of  a  deceitful  act  towards  his  father,  as  nar- 
rated in  the  text,  Gen.  27,  fled  to  the  same  region 
whence  his  father  obtained  his  own  wife,  and  there 
found  his  wives  Leah  and  Rachel  in  Mesopotamia. 

In  that  act  of  deceit  he  was  aided  by  his  mother, 
who  probably  never  lived  to  see  again  the  son  she 
loved  so  much.  Jacob  returned  not  for  many  years, 
although  when  his  mother  parted  with  him  she  sup- 
posed it  was  for  "a  few  days,"  Gen.  27:44.  He  re- 
turned to  Hebron  shortly  before  the  death  of  his 
father,  in  whose  burial,  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah, 
both  his  sons,  Esau  and  Jacob,  united.  Gen.  35  :  29. 

8.  Jacob  and  his  twelve  sons  remained  near 
Hebron  for  some  time  after  the  death  of  his  father 
Isaac,  when  an  event  occurred  which  changed  the 
history  of  the  entire  family  and  led  to  their  long 
residence  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 

Joseph,  the  son  of  Jacob's  old  age,  because  of 
jealousy  on  the  part  of  his  brethren,  was  sold  by 
them  to  a  party  of  trading  merchants,  called  "  Ish- 
maelites."  These  "came  from  Gilead,  with  their 
camels  bearing  spicery  and  balm  and  myrrh,  going 
to  carry  it  down  to  Egypt." 

Gilead  was  the  large  district  east  of  the  Jor- 
dan, beginning  some  1 5  miles  southwest  of  Damas- 
cus, and  whose  southern  limit  was  a  few  miles  north 
of  the   Dead  Sea.      Their  way   towards  Egypt   was 


72  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

by  Dothan,  where  the  brethren  were  tending  their 
father's  flock. 

Dothan  was  a  Canaanitish  town  about  five 
miles  southwest  of  the  Carmel  range  of  mountains 
and  thirteen  miles  north  of  Shechem.  It  was  fully 
900  feet  above  the  sea,  and  on  the  south  of  a  beauti- 
ful plain  five  miles  long  and  two  wide. 

9.  The  Ishmaelites  sold  Joseph  in  Egypt,  where, 
through  his  ability  to  interpret  the  dream  of  Pha- 
raoh, he  became,  under  the  king,  the  second  ruler  of 
Egypt  and  prepared  for  the  seven  years  of  famine 
which  were  preceded  by  seven  years  of  extraordi- 
nary harvests.  The  famine  in  Egypt  was  attended 
by  famine  in  Canaan,  as  also  in  other  lands.  This 
condition  of  famine  caused  Jacob  to  send  his  sons 
into  Egypt  for  corn.  It  should  be  remembered  that 
in  these  countries  the  word  "corn"  was  applied  to 
almost  any  kind  of  grain,  but  especially  to  wheat  and 
barley,  as  indeed  it  is  at  the  present  day  in  several 
other  countries.  It  is  not  probable  that  Indian  maize, 
called  corn  in  our  land,  was  ever  referred  to  in 
Scripture. 

At  the  second  visit  of  the  patriarch's  sons,  Joseph, 
who  recognized  them  at  the  first  visit,  made  himself 
known  unto  them  and  sent  them  back  with  the  di- 
rection to  bring  his  father,  and  all  that  made  up  the 
entire  family,  into  Egypt. 

10.  After  some  hesitation  on  the  part  of  Jacob, 
he  left  Hebron,  and  passing  through  Beersheba, 
started  on  his  way  to  Egypt,  where  he  arrived  and 


THE   PATRIARCHS   ISAAC   AND   JACOB.  73 

was  met  by  Joseph,  on  the  plains  of  Goshen.  Re- 
cent discovery  has  located  this  region  about  40  miles 
northeast  of  the  present  Cairo,  in  its  central  point, 
with  a  diameter  of  about  1 5  miles.* 

Jacob  was  introduced  to  the  reigning  Pharaoh 
when  he  was  1 30  years  of  age.  His  interview  was 
followed  by  the  settlement  of  the  entire  family,  with 
all  their  herds  and  possessions,  in  the  district  above 
mentioned.  This  was  a  small  district  included  in  a 
much  larger  one  called,  in  after  times,  the  land  of 
Rameses,  which  name  had  reference  to  a  second  king 
of  that  name,  Rameses  II.,  who  was  the  great  build- 
er monarch,  and  who  lived  not  long  before  the  time 
of  the  Exodus.  He  died  when  Moses  was  80  years 
of  age. 

[The  student  of  Biblical  chronology  should  use  considerable 
caution  in  accepting  the  dates  and  surmises  offered  by  some  wri- 
ters in  connection  with  this  history.  The  ages  already  given  us  in 
the  text,  namely,  130  for  Jacob  when  Joseph  was  39  by  the  texts 
preceding,  show  that  Jacob  was  91  years  of  age  at  Joseph's  birth, 
but  by  Gen.  31  :38  he  had  been  at  least  14  years  with  Laban, 
in  Mesopotamia,  just  preceding  the  birth  of  Joseph.  So  that 
14  years  before  the  birth  of  Joseph  he  left  his  home  for  Ha- 
ran,  at  the  age  of  77.  It  seems  somewhat  probable  that  Jacob 
was  40  years  in  Haran,  and  that  he  means  to  make  that  as- 
sertion when,  in  Gen.  31:38,  41,  he  separates  the  two  20  years. 
This  affords  more  time  for  his  sons  to  grow  to  the  ages  of 
that  manhood  necessary  for  the  after  occurrences  narrated  in  the 
history.  For  the  eldest,  Reuben  and  Simeon,  were  born  not  until 
the  marriage  with  Leah,  and  this  appears  to  have  been  only  seven 
years  before  the  birth  of  Joseph.  Six  years  after  the  birth  of 
Joseph,  Jacob  leaves  with  all  his  family  for  Shechem,  where  he  re- 
s' Fourth  memoir  of  "  The  Egypt  Exploration  Fund,"  1887,  p.  15. 
4 


74  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

mains  eight  years.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  Simeon  and  Levi, 
when  they  attacked  and  overthrew  Shechem  and  sacked  the  town, 
were  not  over  19  or  20  years  of  age,  as  six  of  the  last  years  and  re- 
engagement  for  six  years  in  Mesopotamia,  and  eight  in  Shechem, 
and  perhaps  a  year  on  the  travel,  and  various  stoppages,  give 
grounds  for  that  supposition,  if  Jacob  was  only  20  years  with  La- 
ban.  It  would  then  be  as  follows,  remembering  that  Reuben  was 
the  first-born  of  the  sons  of  Jacob  : 

8th  year.     Reuben  born  first  year  after  Jacob's  marriage. 

14th  year.  The  rest  born  during  the  six  remaining  years  ;  Jo- 
seph now  born. 

2oth  year.  At  the  close  of  the  last  seven  years  Jacob  is  newly 
employed  for  six  years,  which,  with  the  previous  14  years,  makes 
20  years  with  Laban,  Gen.  31 :38. 

2ist  year.  Jacob  and  all  the  family  start  for  Canaan,  and 
reach  Shechem,  including  stoppages,  in  the  21st  year,  or  13th  year 
after  Reuben's  birth. 

When  Jacob  arrived  in  Shechem  he  bought  land,  dug  a  well, 
and  is  considered  as  resident  for  eight  years. 

29th  year.  At  the  close  of  this  year  Simeon  and  Levi  attack 
the  Shechemites.  This  would  make  Reuben  about  21  or  22,  and 
Simeon  and  Levi  19  and  20,  but  old  enough,  with  their  servants 
and  probably  others,  to  have  executed  their  revenge.  But  we 
must  understand  that  this  is  the  extreme  shortest  period,  and 
several  circumstances  might  have  detained  them  longer  on  their 
journeys  and  made  the  sons  older. 

In  the  above  calculation  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  Ja- 
cob was  any  longer  than  20  years  engaged  with  Laban.  It  is  im- 
possible to  suppose,  with  some  writers,  that  Jacob  was  only  40  years 
of  age  when  he  left  his  home  for  Haran.] 

11.  Jacob,  having  had  the  land  of  Goshen, 
in  Egypt,  appointed  him,  remained  there  until  his 
death  at  147  years  of  age,  having  dwelt  in  the  land 
of  Egypt  17  years. 

As  Joseph    died  at    no  years  of  age,   he  lived 


THE   PATRIARCHS   ISAAC   AND   JACOB.  75 

56  years  after  the  death  of  Jacob,  as  governor  of 
Egypt,  very  probably,  since  the  last  account  of 
him  was  that  "they  embalmed  him  and  he  was 
put  in  a  coffin  in  Egypt."  He  lived  to  see  his 
great  grandchildren,  and  therefore  was  prominent 
in  Egypt  for  a  term  of  80  years. 


^^  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

EGYPTIAN   TESTIMONIES. 

The  recovery  of  the  meaning  of  the  Egyp- 
tian  hieroglyphics,  and  the  many  discoveries  of  mon- 
uments illustrating  the  early  history  and  literature 
of  that  nation,  have  added  great  interest  to  the 
study  of  Scripture  and  established  the  accuracy  of 
Biblical  accounts  of  this  period. 

1.  The  articles  which  the  Ishmaelites  carried  to 
Egypt  at  the  time  Joseph  was  sold  are,  in  part,  re- 
corded in  a  list  upon  one  of  the  tablets  at  Edfu,  on 
the  Nile.  The  first  and  second  of  the  articles  named 
in  Gen.  37:25  are  recorded  by  name,  the  article 
rendered  "  spicery  "  being  the  name  of  a  gum  found 
in  Syria. 

2.  Tlie  i)rice  of  a  common  slave  of  Joseph's 
age  is  recorded  in  the  time  of  Rameses  XIII.  as 
about  $10.  This  agrees  with  the  statement,  Gen.  37 : 
28,  where  it  is  stated  that  Joseph  was  sold  for  twenty 
pieces  of  silver,  shown  to  be  shekels  of  about  50  to 
56  cents'  value,  which  was  high,  but  Egyptian  records 
show  that  young  men  from  Syria  were  unusually 
valuable.* 

3.  The  existence  of  slavery  is  frequently  allu- 
ded to  upon   the  monuments  and  in   manuscripts, 

*  Osborn's  "  Ancient  Egypt  in  tlie  Light  of  Modern  Discovery,"  p.  82. 


EGYPTIAN   TESTIMONIES.  'J'J 

wherein  those  who  had  lost  slaves  offer  rewards  to 
any  one  who  will  bring  them  back.  Moreover,  Syr- 
ian slaves  are  recorded  as  of  great  value,  and  a  treaty 
record  is  still  preserved,  made  between  Rameses  II. 
and  the  king  of  the  Hittites,  in  which  it  is  agreed  to 
return  fugitive  slaves. 

4.  The  statement  has  been  made  by  several 
Greek  historians  that  the  Egyptians  never  cultivated 
the  grape  nor  drank  wine.  Therefore  the  state- 
ment that  Pharaoh  drank  the  juice  of  the  grapes,  or 
wine,  and  had  a  chief  butler,  as  stated  in  Gen.  40, 
was  said  to  be  inaccurate.  But  the  discoveries  show 
that  not  only  were  vineyards  cultivated,  but  the 
grapes  were  pressed  in  the  wine-press,  grapes  were 
eaten,  and  wine  made  and  used  before  the  time  of 
Joseph. 

5.  Various  terms  as  descriptive  of  official  posi- 
tion, of  names  of  places  and  objects  of  art  or  com- 
merce, are  now  shown  to  be  of  ancient  Egyptian 
origin,  although  brought  into  the  Hebrew  language. 
The  use  of  these  terms  and  names  proves  that  the 
early  Israelites  were  in  familiar  contact  with  the 
Egyptians. 

6.  The  name  of  Rameses,  used  in  the  history 
of  Joseph,  as  afterward  in  the  history  of  the  Israel- 
ites, has  been  shown  to  be  that  of  the  chief  Pharaoh 
of  Egypt,  and  his  mummy  has  recently  been  re- 
covered with  his  name  and  titles  inscribed  upon  his 
body,  and  certified  to  by  the  high-priest. 

7.  The  singuhir  remark  made  by  the  writer  of 


yS  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Genesis  concerning  the  shepherds,  46 :  34,  has  been 
thoroughly  attested  by  the  history  of  the  incursion  of 
the  Shepherd  Kings,  who  oppressed  the  land,  seized 
upon  the  government  in  the  Delta,  and  drove  the 
native  kings  up  the  Nile  to  Thebes,  occupying  and 
ruling  the  land  for  about  500  years.  It  was  at  the 
close  of  their  rule  that  Joseph  is  supposed  to  have 
entered  Egypt. 

8.  The  keeping:  of  the  birthday  of  Pharaoh  as 
stated  in  Gen.  40 :  20  is  fully  attested  in  the  history 
of  the  early  Egyptian  periods.  An  inscription  of  the 
era  of  the  Exodus  tells  us  that  the  birthday  of  Ram- 
eses  II.  "  caused  joy  in  heaven."  *  Great  gatherings 
and  feasts  were  had,  and  the  king  dispensed  his 
favors  as  he  saw  fit.f 

9.  Tlie  name  for  the  IVile  used  in  the  Hebrew 
is  the  Egyptian  name  for  that  river  found  in  the  pa- 
pyri, and  translated  in  our  English  version  as  "  the 
river."  It  is  not  the  word  the  Hebrews  used  for  a 
river,  and  its  use  proves  that  the  writer  was  familiar 
with  Egyptian  usage. 

10.  Tlie  statement  as  to  the  offices  of  chief 
butler  and  chief  baker,  as  appointed  to  the  Pharaoh, 
is  remarkably  attested  by  the  Egyptian  records, 
which  show  that  these  two  were  very  high  and  im- 
portant offices,  "for  both  had  the  responsible  duty 
of  protecting  the  king's  life  from  poison." :}: 

*  Ebers'  "  Konigstochter,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  22  in  the  note,  40. 

t  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  468. 

f  See  Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  462. 


EGYPTIAN   TESTIMONIES.  79 

11.  A  most  remarkable  illustration  of  the 

accuracy  of  Joseph's  history,  as  narrated  in  Genesis, 
is  seen  in  the  statement  that  he  was  required  to 
change  his  clothes  and  be  shaven  before  going  into 
the  presence  of  the  king.  Among  the  kindred  of 
Joseph  shaving  was  never  practised,  except  as  a  dis- 
grace. But  with  the  Egyptian  the  law  of  cleanli- 
ness required  shaving,  not  only  of  the  chin,  but  of 
the  hair  also.  Not  only  every  priest,  but  the  king 
himself,  was  shaven,  and  the  appearance  of  great 
heads  of  hair,  and  even  of  beard,  in  some  pictures 
is  due  to  the  wigs  and  artificial  beards  worn  by 
priests  and  laymen  alike  to  cover  the  bald  head.  All 
foreigners  were  known  by  being  unshorn. 

The  accuracy  of  Scripture  in  its  references  to  the 
land  of  Egypt  in  ancient  times  has  been  proved 
only  since  the  discovery  of  the  meaning  of  the  hie- 
roglyphics, as  Greek  historians  knew  little  of  Egypt 
in  its  ancient  history,  and  their  accounts  were  erro- 
neous, as  is  frequently  apparent  in  Herodotus.* 

*  For  illustrations  of  this  fact  see   "  Ancient   Empires  of  the  East," 
Sayce.     Preface. 


8o  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

PERIOD   III. 

THE  THEOCRACY  TO  THE  JUDGES. 


CHAPTER   I. 


THE   ISRAELITES   IN   EGYPT. 


1.  How  long  after  the  death  of  Joseph  the 
Israelites  remained  in  Goshen  until  they  were  en- 
slaved has  not  as  yet  been  determined.  The  ac- 
count in  the  book  of  Exodus  opens  with  the  signif- 
icant expression  that  "  there  arose  up  a  new  king- 
over  Egypt  who  knew  not  Joseph."  It  has  been  sup- 
posed that  Joseph  was  governor  under  the  last  of 
the  Shepherd  Kings,  but  this  supposition  is  uncer- 
tain, and  perhaps  wrong,  for  the  long  life  of  Joseph 
after  he  came  into  Egypt,  namely  80  years,  added 
to  the  necessarily  advanced  age  of  the  Pharaoh  who 
was  upon  the  throne  on  the  arrival  of  Joseph,  would, 
with  greater  probability,  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
Joseph's  sojourn  in  Egypt  was  extended  through 
more  than  one  reign  of  the  Shepherd  Kings. 

2,  But  at  the  end  of  the  happy,  quiet  Shep- 
herd era,  among  the  descendants  of  Jacob  in  Goshen 
there   came  a  change.      The  Israelites  became  en- 


THE   ISRAELITES   IN   EGYPT.  8l 

slaved,  for  the  mandate  of  the  Pharaoh  of  the  period 
went  forth  to  set  over  them  taskmasters  and  to 
afflict  them  with  burdens,  the  object  being  to  put 
a  stop  to  their  excessive  growth  in  numbers. 

3.  As  we  have  said,  the  Shepherd  Kings  ruled 
Egypt  for  about  500  years.  Towards  the  close  of 
their  rule  and,  as  it  is  generally  supposed,  under  a 
king  whose  name  is  recorded  as  Apopi,  or,  as  the 
Greek  historians  spell  the  name,  Aphobis,  Joseph 
came  into  Egypt,  and  the  long  war  between  the 
legitimate  kings  and  the  uprising  rulers  was  con- 
tinued for  about  80  years. 

Finally  these  Shepherd  Kings  were  driven  out  of 
the  Delta  by  a  Pharaoh  of  the  18th  dynasty,*  and 
from  that  period  about  400  years  transpired,  during 
which  the  1 8th  dynasty  passed  away  and  a  new  dy- 
nasty, the  19th,  came  into  power.  Of  this  19th  dy- 
nasty two  kings  passed  away  before  the  celebrated 
Seti  I.  began  to  reign.  Rameses  II.  was  the  son  of 
Seti  I.,  and  his  reign  {(i'j  years)  was  the  longest  of 
any  of  this  dynasty. 

4.  Moses,  at  the  age  of  forty,  was  driven  in- 
to the  desert  of  Sinai,  on  the  east  of  Egypt,  where  he 
escaped  from  the  wrath  of  the  reigning  Pharaoh,  and 
where  he  remained  40  years,  until  the  death  of  the 
king.  The  Pharaoh  with  whom  Moses'  name  is  thus 
associated  must  have  reigned  a  long  time,  and  the 
reign  of  Rameses  II.  meets  the  conditions  of  the  his- 

*  Dynasty  was  the  term  given  to  kings  of  the  same  family  or  blood 
relations. 

4* 


82  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

tory,  not  only  as  to  time,  but  also  as  to  the  name. 
It  is  for  these  reasons  that  the  Egyptian  Rameses  II. 
is  supposed  to  be  the  Pharaoh  alluded  to  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  book  of  Exodus,  as  the  Scripture 
Rameses. 

5.  After  the  death  of  Rameses,  Moses  return- 
ed to  Egypt  from  his  40  years'  residence  in  the  desert 
of  Sinai.  As  his  life  in  those  parts  was  spent  in  the 
shepherd  occupation,  he  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  region,  and  in  a  large  degree  fitted  for  the  work 
to  which  he  was  called  by  the  Lord,  to  take  charge 
of  the  deliverance  of  the  Israelites  from  the  bondage 
in  Egypt. 

By  divine  command  he  appeared  before  the  reign- 
ing Pharaoh  and  demanded,  in  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
the  release  of  his  brethren,  who,  in  all,  must  have 
been  about  2,000,000.  This  number,  though  not 
stated,  may  be  supposed  to  be  correct  as  based  upon 
the  fact  that  at  the  departure  from  Egypt  the  able 
men  numbered  600,000. 

6.  The  unwillingness  of  the  king  to  let  the 
people  go  was  finally  subdued  by  a  series  of  remark- 
able plagues.  The  most  singular  feature  of  these 
inflictions  is  found  in  the  fact  that  in  every  case 
they  seem  to  have  attacked  the  Egyptians  in  the 
most  important  elements  of  either  their  national 
greatness  or  in  the  direction  of  their  greatest  com- 
forts and  reliance.  Another  singular  feature  in  the 
whole  course  of  affliction  was  their  progressive  seri- 
ousness. 


THE    ISRAELITES   IN    EGYPT.  83 

7.  The  first  plague  appeared  in  the  sudden 
change  of  the  waters  of  the  Nile  into  blood.  The 
Nile  was  not  only  the  great  source  of  water  supply, 
but  was  supposed  to  be  under  the  immediate  care  of 
the  gods  of  Egypt.  Hymns  have  come  down  to 
us  composed  in  the  honor  of  the  personified  Nile. 
These  were  composed  before  the  time  of  Moses,  and 
give  the  names  of  their  chief  gods  to  the  waters  of 
the  great  river.  The  Nile  was  "  the  representative 
of  all  that  was  good."  This  plague  made  it  necessary 
that  the  people  should  begin  digging  wells  near 
the  banks  of  the  river  and  elsewhere  throughout  all 
Egypt. 

8.  The  second  plague,  of  frogs,  attacked  in  like 
manner,  but  more  directly,  the  religious  supersti- 
tions. The  frog-headed  deity  Heki  was  the  wife 
of  the  god  of  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile,  who  also 
was  represented  with  a  frog's  head.  The  frog  was 
the  symbol  of  renewed  life  after  death,  and  was  wor- 
shipped as  such. 

9.  The  third  plague  was  more  intense  ;  it  afflict- 
ed man  and  brute  alike.  The  ground  brought  forth 
insects,  "  lice  "  so  called,  in  such  abundance  that  even 
the  priests  could  not  cleanse  themselves.  The  priests 
were  not  allowed  to  use  woollen  in  any  of  their  gar- 
ments, because  of  the  likelihood  that  it  would  harbor 
this  vile  evil,  which  was  one  greatly  abhorred.  In- 
sects of  every  kind,  even  gnats,  were  considered  un- 
clean.    Priests  and  people  were  alike  unclean. 

10.  The  fourth  plague,  of  flies,  was  somewhat 


84  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY, 

similar,  being  an  insect  curse,  but  now  the  curse  was 
winged. 

11.  The  fifth  plague,  of  "  murrain,"  was  far  more 
serious,  as  it  not  only  touched  the  honor  of  the  Egyp- 
tian faith  in  the  worship  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  to  whom 
the  cattle  were  sacred,  but  caused  the  death  of  the 
cattle  throughout  Egypt.  It  troubled  in  yet  more 
serious  degree  the  temple  and  the  market,  the  priest 
and  the  people. 

12.  The  sixth  was  yet  more  distressing,  for  it 
sent  boils  and  "blains"  upon  man  and  beast,  not 
even  the  magicians  being  able  to  stand  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Moses  "because  of  the  boils." 

13.  The  seventh  plague  was  one  not  only  of 
hail,  but  of  fearful  displays  of  lightning  and  peals  of 
thunder,  such  as  were  never  before  known  in  the 
land. 

14.  The  eighth  was  a  terrific  visitation  of  lo- 
custs which  began,  in  unprecedented  numbers,  to 
eat  up  all  vegetation  left  by  the  hail. 

15.  The  ninth  was  intense  darkness,  in  which 
plague  not  only  was  there  an  exceeding  discomfort 
felt  throughout  the  land,  but  the  sun,  which  was  the 
most  sacred  object  of  reverence,  the  supreme  god  of 
Egypt,  withdrew  his  light  before  the  command  of 
Moses,  as  servant  of  the  most  high  God. 

16.  The  tenth  plague  was  by  far  the  most  fear- 
ful of  all.  It  was  to  the  Egyptians  both  distressing 
and  ominous.  The  first-born  was,  in  a  most  loving 
sense,  the  most  important  member  of  the  family — 


THE   ISRAELITES   IN   EGYPT.  85 

the  one,  above  all  the  rest,  upon  whom  the  privileges 
of  birthright  were  laid  and  who  was,  accordingly, 
regarded  with  special  attention  and  love.  Besides, 
in  this  fearful  and  sudden  death  of  the  first-born  in 
every  place  there  was  felt,  as  never  before,  the  pres- 
ence of  some  awful  power  immediately  back  of  this 
plague,  which  seemed  to  them  to  presage  the  ap- 
proach of  the  destruction  of  the  entire  nation,  and 
hence  their  outcry,  "We  be  all  dead  men,"  Exod. 

12:33- 

The  Exodus,  or  the  "  departure,"  began  imme- 
diately, and  Moses  and  Aaron,  who  had  anticipated 
the  result  of  this  last  plague,  had  prepared  all  the 
Israelites  by  giving  them,  sufficient  notice  for  a  hur- 
ried flight. 


86  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    PHYSICAL    GEOGRAPHY    OF    SINAI    AND    THE 
DESERT. 

1.  It  is  necessary  that  we  should  obtain  a  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  the  country  over  which  the  Israel- 
ites were  now  to  travel.  The  land  of  Goshen,  where 
the  great  majority  of  the  Israelites  were  stationed, 
was  included,  probably,  in  the  greater  district  of 
Rameses,  as  we  have  said.  They  left  some  general 
rendezvous  early  in  the  morning  for  Succoth,  which 
was  twenty  or  twenty-five  miles  southeast  of  the 
district  of  Goshen.  The  treasure  city  Pithom,  men- 
tioned with  Rameses  in  the  first  chapter  of  Exodus 
(verse  ii),  was  in  Succoth,  as  a  recent  discovery  has 
shown.  The  west  arm  of  the  Red  Sea  was  about 
sixty  miles  farther  south.  The  triangular  district  of 
the  country  between  the  two  northern  arms  of  the 
Red  Sea,  to  which  they  were  going,  is  a  mountainous 
tract  gradually  ascending  from  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  or 
western  arm,  to  the  mountainous  region  of  Horeb,  of 
which  Sinai  was  a  chief  mountain.*  These  moun- 
tains are  entirely  of  granite.  The  large  plain  at 
the  base  of  Sinai  is  400  feet  above  the  sea.  The  Si- 
nai mountain   seems  to  rise  directly  up  from  this 

*  This  view  appears  to  be  the  correct  one,  although  there  is  some 
variation  of  opinion. 


SINAI   AND   THE   DESERT.  8/ 

plain  to  the  height  of  from  1,200  to  1,500  feet,  and  in 
some  parts,  at  its  base,  the  rock  is  for  a  long  distance 
almost  perpendicular,  like  a  high  bluff  above  the 
level  soil.  Parts  of  the  rocky  heights  are  2,000  feet 
above  the  plain. 

2.  North  of  this  region,  about  50  miles,  a 
sandy  stretch  of  country  comes  abruptly  to  a  general 
rise  of  sandstone  cliffs,  which  extend  many  miles 
east  and  west,  and  the  granite  rocks  disappear, 
having  been  left  behind  in  Horeb. 

It  is  200  miles,  a  little  east  of  north,  from  Mt. 
Sinai  to  the  south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  to  the 
lower  limits  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  whither  the  Isra- 
elites were  journeying.  Mt.  Sinai  is  about  35  miles 
from  the  western  and  about  25  from  the  eastern  arm 
of  the  Red  Sea. 


THE   ISRAELITES   IN   THE   DESERT. 

3.  The  recent  discovery  of  Succoth  and  the 

treasure  city  Pithom  fixes  this  place  as  that  of  the 
first  encampment  of  the  Israelites  at  the  Exodus. 
One  inscription  calls  the  place  Petum  (the  "  abode  " 
of  Tum)  in  the  city  of  Thuku,  or  "  Pithom  in  the 
city  of  Succoth." 

The  great  desert  now  begins,  stretching  east- 
ward from  Succoth  for  about  200  miles,  a  very 
desolate  and  barren  region,  to  the  country  of  Edom 
and  the  great  valley  of  Arabah,  which  valley  runs 
northward  directly  from  the  eastern  arm  of  the  Red 


88  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Sea  to  the  Dead  Sea,  a  distance  of  115  miles.  The 
chief  divine  object  in  directing  the  course  of  the 
Israelites  southeast  from  Egypt  to  the  region  of  Ho- 
reb  and  then  around  by  the  Gulf  of  Akabah,  rather 
than  by  the  short  course  to  Canaan  by  the  coast,  is 
expressed  in  the  Scripture,  and  was  one  of  discipline, 
Exod.  13:17,  and  preparation  for  the  new  life  they 
were  destined  to  live. 

4.  Many  misapprehensions  of  the  real  diffi- 
culty of  this  long  travel  have  resulted  from  a  failure 
to  comprehend  the  largeness  of  the  company.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  so  large  a  number  as  2,000- 
000  people,  with  their  herds  and  flocks,  their  tents, 
the  Tabernacle,  and  other  baggage,  must  have  cov- 
ered a  much  larger  space  than  is  sometimes  allowed 
by  some  readers  of  this  history.  Thus  in  crossing 
the  Red  Sea  and  stopping  at  stations  and  fording  the 
Jordan  on  their  arrival  at  Canaan,  and  in  settling 
upon  plains,  before  and  after,  it  must  be  always  kept 
in  mind  that  no  narrow  line  or  small  surface  less 
than  several  square  miles  would  in  any  way  repre- 
sent that  necessary  area  over  which  the  moving  body 
travelled,  or  rested  when  it  came  to  a  halt.  In  its 
course  at  evening  the  advanced  officers  would  soon 
lay  out  upon  the  area  to  be  occupied  the  plan  for 
encampment,  and  in  a  short  time  that  space  of  land, 
which  an  hour  before  was  the  prowling-ground  for 
a  few  wild  beasts  of  the  desert,  would  become  the 
site  of  a  city  of  2,000,000  inhabitants,  with  long 
streets  and   squares   lighted   with    the   magnificent 


SINAI   AND   THE   DESERT.  89 

and  mysterious  flame  whicli  accompanied  them  dur- 
ing all  their  wanderings. 

5.  The  habits  of  eating  and  drinking  in  that 
day  were  very  different  from  anything  now  custom- 
ary in  our  midst.  The  plainest  food,  and  frequently 
only  one  meal  a  day  and  one  draught  of  water  in  24 
hours,  is  sufficient  for  the  Bedouin  of  the  desert.  We 
are  therefore  wrong  in  comparing  the  habits  of  the 
times  of  the  Exodus  with  those  of  the  present  day. 

6.  Very  few  of  the  stations  named  after  cross- 
ing the  Red  Sea  can  be  certainly  located.  But  after 
leaving  Mt.  Sinai,  at  three  days'  journey  Prof.  Pal- 
mer discovered  the  evidences  of  an  ancient  camp, 
surrounded  by  an  immense  number  of  graves,  and 
this  place  is  generally  supposed  to  mark  the  site  of 
a  station  called  Kibroth-hattaavah,  or  "  the  graves 
of  gluttony,"  the  history  of  which  is  found  in  Num. 
II*  31-35-  -A-  day's  journey  north  of  this  the  same 
explorer  discovered  other  extensive  remains  of  stone 
heaps  and  circles  covering  the  hillsides  in  every 
direction.  As  the  next  station  of  the  Israelites  is 
called  Hazeroth,  which  means  "  the  circles,"  and  as 
the  Arabs  still  call  this  place  the  "  look-outs  of 
Hazeroth,"  it  seems  that  the  site  of  another  station 
is  known. 

7.  After  this  it  is  difficult  to  trace  their  course 
until  they  reached  Kadesli,  which  is  140  miles  due 
east  of  their  first  camping-ground  in  Egypt,  namely, 
Succoth,  and  at  present  seems  identical  with  the  spot 
called  Ain  Gadis,  or  the  spring  of  Kadesh,  170  miles 


90  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

north  by  east  from  Sinai,  and  65  miles  southwest  of 
the  Dead  Sea. 

There  is  evidence  that  anciently  a  great  popula- 
tion was  scattered  over  this  region  of  Ain  Gadis,  and 
considerable  verdure  exists  even  at  present.  This 
appears  to  have  been  the  general  camping-ground  of 
the  Israelites  for  a  large  part  of  the  thirty-seven  years 
before  they  finally  started  to  enter  the  promised  land. 
The  sad  history  of  the  event  which  brought  this  long 
delay  is  recorded  in  Num.  14. 


THE   ENTRANCE   INTO   CANAAN.  9I 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   ENTRANCE  INTO   CANAAN. 

1.  After  the  long  residence  in  the  region  of 
Kadesh   the   Israelites   took  up  their  march  to 

Canaan.  The  generation  now  existing  had  been 
almost  altogether  born  in  the  desert,  and  had  been 
raised  under  the  tutelage  of  Moses  and  his  brother 
Aaron.  Miriam,  the  sister,  had  undoubtedly  added 
much  to  the  influence  which  her  brothers  exerted  by 
her  nearer  relation  to  the  female  population.  The 
discipline  had  had  its  full  effect  during  this  long 
period,  and  there  had  grown  up  a  vigorous  and  well- 
ordered  race,  totally  different  from  the  race  that  had 
left  Egypt  forty  years  before. 

2,  It  is  prohahle  that  during  this  long  period 
Moses  hail  written  out  much,  if  not  all,  of  the 
Scriptures  usually  attributed  to  him  under  the  title 
of  "  the  books  of  Moses."  Although  there  is  no  def- 
inite statement  in  Scripture  that  all  of  these  books, 
called  the  Pentateuch,  are  the  composition  of  Moses, 
certain  parts  are  spoken  of  as  those  of  his  personal 
writing.  But  of  the  five  books  the  parts  spoken  of 
are  only  in  the  closing  chapters  of  the  last  book, 
namely,  Deuteronomy,  and  as  the  five  have  never 
been  known  except  as  forming  one  roll  or  volume, 
the  general  belief  and  tradition  attribute  the  whole 


92  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

five  to  Moses  as  author.  The  impression  that  Moses 
was  the  author  of  Genesis,  and  that  this  book  of  Gen- 
esis was  the  beginning  of  "The  Law,"  is  apparent 
in  the  writings  of  Longinus,  the  Greek  author,  A.  D. 
270,  who  quotes  Gen.  1:3  as  "  the  beginning  of  Mo- 
ses' law."* 

3.  The  census  of  the  nation  at  this  time  shows 
that  nearly  2,000  men  had  disappeared,  and  perhaps 
this  lessening  of  the  population  was  due  to  the  deaths 
of  the  strangers  and  aliens  who  had  become  mixed 
in  the  vast  crowd  at  the  time  of  their  departure  from 
Egypt. 

The  first  census  was  taken  at  Sinai  in  the  second 
year  after  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea,  Num.  i  -.46, 
and  was  603,5 50.  The  second  ct  nsus  was  taken  nearly 
40  years  afterwards,  just  before  the  entrance  into  the 
promised  land,  Num.  26:  51,  and  was  601,730,  the  dif- 
ference being  1,820.  The  census  included  only  the 
able-bodied  men  fit  for  war  and  over  20  years  of  age. 

4.  Moses  died  upon  Mt.  Pisgah  without  crossing 
the  Jordan,  Aaron  died  on  Mt.  Hor,  and  Miriam  died 
at  Kadesh.  These  leaders  being  dead,  the  authority 
to  take  charge  was  vested  in  Joshua. 

MT.    HOR,   MT.   NEBO,    MT.    PISGAH. 

5.  Mt.  Hor  is  45  miles  south  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
having  the  ruins  of  the  city  Petra  near  its  eastern 
base.     Wandering  Arab  tribes  control  all  access  to 

*  Gray's  "  Connection  between  Sacred  and  Heathen  Authors,"  p. 
563.     Longinus  "On  the  Sublime." 


THE   ENTRANCE   INTO   CANAAN.  93 

these  two  places,  but  a  small  chapel  marks  the  spot, 
according  to  tradition,  where  Aaron  died  on  the  top 
of  the  mountain. 

Pisgali  is  supposed  to  be  a  high  plateau  ten 
miles  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan,  and  Mt.  Nebo 
a  higher  portion  of  the  same  general  range,  but  it  is 
at  a  short  distance  east  of  that  part  where  the  high 
table-land  of  Moab  begins  to  descend  to  the  Dead 
Sea.  From  this  elevation  very  extensive  views  of 
the  land  west  of  the  Jordan  may  be  had. 

THE   ERA   OF  JOSHUA. 

6.  From  the  liigli  table-land  of  Moab  the 
Israelites  descended  to  the  eastern  Jordan  plains  a 
few  miles  north  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  soon  crossed 
the  river  and  landed  upon  the  wide  plain  west  of  the 
banks.  The  crossing  must  have  occupied  the  bed  of 
the  river  for  a  long  distance. 

On  entrance  upon  the  land  of  Canaan  proper  the 
hosts  of  Israel  renewedly  consecrated  themselves  to 
the  service  of  Jehovah  at  Gilgal.  They  accepted 
Joshua  as  their  commander,  and  began  their  first 
attempt  at  subduing  the  Canaanites  by  an  attack  on 
Jericho. 

GILGAL  AND   JERICHO. 

7.  Tlie  first  of  these  names  represents  simply 
a  gathering-place  of  the  Israelites  when  the  dedica- 
tion of  themselves  to  the  Lord  took  place.  Its  posi- 
tion is  supposed  to  have  been  at  a  place  still  called 
Gilgal,  in  the  Arabic  Jiljulieh,  nearly  three  miles  west 


94  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

of  the  Jordan  and  six  miles  north-northwest  of  its 
mouth.  Jericho  at  this  time  was  near  the  present 
Ain  es  Sultan,  a  very  fine  spring  one  and  a  quarter 
miles  northwest  from  the  present  little  Arab  village 
called  Er  Riha  or  Jericho  by  travellers,  and  five 
miles  west  of  the  river.  After  its  destruction  at  this 
time  it  was  rebuilt  B.  C.  918,  i  Kin.  16:34,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  valley  of  the  Kelt,  which  is  the  ancient 
valley  of  Achor,  and  existed  at  that  place  in  the  time 
of  our  Saviour.  The  present  miserable  Arab  village 
Er  Riha  and  the  tower  near  it  were  built  during  the 
crusades. 

The  name  Gilgal  signifies  a  "rolling"  and  also  a 
*'  circle,"  and  probably  the  twelve  stones  taken  from 
the  bed  of  the  Jordan  were  placed  in  the  form  of  a 
circle,  making  the  real  significance  more  emphatic, 
but  the  true  significance  of  the  name  is  given  in  the 
passage,  Josh.  5  : 9,  as  a  rolling  off  "  the  reproach  of 
Egypt,"  as  described  in  that  chapter.  There  were 
two  other  towns  bearing  this  name  of  which  mention 
is  made  hereafter. 

THE   SETTLEMENT   IN   CANAAN. 

8.  Jericho  was  inhabited  at  this  time  by  a  lux- 
urious people  and  one  that  evidently  had  profited 
greatly  by  the  richness  of  the  vast  plain  of  the  Jor- 
dan. The  mention  of  the  precious  metals,  "  the  sil- 
ver and  gold  and  vessels  of  brass  and  iron,"  Josh. 
6:19,  the  "goodly  Babylonish  garment,"  the  200 
shekels  of  silver,  the  wedge  of  gold  of  50  shekels' 


THE  ENTRANCE  INTO  CANAAN.         95 

weight  stolen  by  Achan,  Josh.  7:21,  and  the  referen- 
ces to  Baal-peor  in  the  historic  connection,  prove  their 
wealth  and  suggest  the  nature  of  their  idolatry.  Re- 
cent historic  discoveries  show  the  cruelty  and  fearful 
depravity  of  the  people  with  whom  they  were  associ- 
ated. They  were  therefore  given  over  to  destruc- 
tion in  accordance  with  the  customs  of  that  time. 

The  name  Jericho  seems  to  mean  the  ''city  of 
the  moon,"  a  name  given  to  the  city  because  of  the 
early  worship  of  the  moon  at  that  place  under  the 
title  Ashtoreth,  which  doubtless  was  derived  from 
the  earlier  title  of  the  Babylonian  Astarte,  the  god- 
dess of  love.  It  was  given  about  this  time  to  a  city 
in  Bashan  called  Ashteroth  Karnaim,  meaning  Ash- 
toreth of  the  two  horns,  Gen.  14:  5. 

CANAAN. 

9.  This  was  the  name  of  the  land  which  the 
Israelites  were  now  to  conquer.  The  name  was  well 
known  to  the  Egyptians,  and  we  find  it  upon  the 
monuments  in  Egypt  and  in  Assyria.  A  description 
of  this  land  occurs  in  Egyptian  records  as  early  as 
the  time  of  Thothmes  III.  (1600  B.  C,  Brugsch),  also 
in  the  reign  of  Rameses  11. ,  ''the  Pharaoh  of  the 
oppression"  (1350  B.  C,  Brugsch),  and  from  these 
descriptions  it  is  plain  that  the  land  was  settled  by 
numerous  tribes  who  were  well  provided  with  the 
comforts  of  living. 

They  were  not  only  numerous,  but  many  of  their 
cities   were   strongly  defended  by  fortresses.      The 


96  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

list  of  articles  recovered  by  Rameses  II.  after  his 
battles  in  Canaan  bore  testimony  to  the  wealth  of 
the  people  and  to  the  luxuries  of  their  times,  for 
among  many  other  articles  were  ivory,  ebony,  chari- 
ots inlaid  with  gold  and  silver,  suits  of  armor,  fra- 
grant woods,  gold  dishes  with  handles,  collars  and 
ornaments  of  lapis  lazuli,  silver  dishes,  vases  of  sil- 
ver, precious  stones,  brazen  spears,  etc.,  "  the  plunder 
in  fact  of  a  rich  and  civilized  country."* 

THE   AMORITES. 

10.  The  land  of  Canaan  at  the  time  of 
Joshua  was  no  barbarous  or  ill-defended  region.  In 
the  assault  upon  the  Canaanitish  city  of  Dapurf  by 
Rameses  II.  the  standard  of  the  Amorites  appears 
hoisted  on  the  highest  tower  of  its  citadel.;}:  From 
the  pictures  of  the  Amorites  upon  the  monuments  in 
Egypt  they  were  armed  with  the  bow  and  the  oblong 
shield,  and  used  chariots  of  solid  construction  fit  for 
rough  ground,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  "  sons  of 
Anak,"  Num.  13  :  33,  were  a  distinguished  clan  among 
the  Amorites  and  not  a  distinct  people. §  They  were 
selected  for  their  size  and  strength. 

THE   HITTITES. 

11.  It  has  been  only  recently  that  the  history  of 
the  Hittites  has  come  to  light.    The  earliest  ref- 

*  Lepsiiis  in  Geikie,  Vol.  II.,  p.  384. 

t  Supposed  to  have  been  Debir,  south  of  Hebron. 

X  Wilkinson  in  Tomkins'  "  Studies  of  the  Times  of  Abraham,"  p.  86. 

§  Tomkins,  p.  86. 


THE   ENTRANCE   INTO   CANAAN.  97 

erciices  to  this  people  in  secular  history  are  those 
which  are  found  in  the  history  of  Assyria.  ^They 
are  first  mentioned  in  Scripture  as  the  sons  of  Heth, 
Gen.  23  :  3,  in  connection  with  the  purchase  by  Abra- 
ham of  the  cave  of  Machpelah  at  Hebron.  But  fifty- 
three  years  before  that  event  the  Amorites  seem 
to  have  been  an  important  tribe,  and  fought  under 
the  direction  of  Abraham  the  first  battle  recorded  in 
Scripture,  Gen.  14. 

The  tribe  of  Hittites  grew  to  be  a  strong  and 
remarkable  nation  of  warriors,  extending  their  con- 
quests into  Assyria  and  far  into  Asia  Minor.  Their 
name  occurs  in  Homer*  under  the  form  of  "  Ketaioi " 
and  in  the  Egyptian  annals  in  the  time  of  the  great 
conqueror,  Thothmes  IH,,  B.  C.  1600,  wherein  it  is 
recorded  that  he  received  the  tribute  from  the  "  chief 
of  the  great  Kheta,"  or  Hittites,  which  tribute  con- 
sisted in  gold,  slaves,  and  cattle.  Thus  it  appears 
that  in  a  few  centuries  after  the  time  when  Abram 
bought  the  cave  of  Machpelah  of  the  sons  of  Heth, 
B.  C.  1 860,  they  had  become  a  great  people.  Before 
the  Exodus  they  were  the  powerful  rivals  of  Egypt. 

12.  Until  recently  the  expression  in  the  book 
of  Joshua  (1:4)  that  the  land  of  the  Hittites  ex- 
tended "  from  Lebanon  even  unto  the  great  river, 
the  river  Euphrates,"  seemed  to  be  an  exaggeration. 
But  the  recent  discovery  of  the  ruins  of  their  great 
capital,  Carchemish,   situated   upon   the   Euphrates, 

*  Odyssey,  Book  II.,  1.  521.     Gladstone's  "  Hom.  Synchron,"  pp.  174, 
182. 

Blhlicat  History  ami  Geo;;rapliy.  C 


98  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

and  the  mention  of  another  city  not  far  off,  namely 
Pethor,  where  Balaam  dwelt,  beside  many  remains 
extending  far  into  Asia  Minor,  all  prove  that  it  was 
no  exaggeration,  but  historic  truth,  which  is  recorded 
in  the  book  of  Joshua  concerning  their  extended 
empire.  They  were  finally  conquered  by  the  As- 
syrians, and  their  great  cities,  Carchemish  and  Pe- 
thor, captured,  719  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
and  they  never  again  rose  to  power. 

The  other  Canaanitish  tribes  were  unimportant. 

THE   LANGUAGE   OF   CANAAN.  . 

13.  The  discovery  in  A.  D.  1868  of  the  Moabite 
stone,  at  Dibon,  the  ruins  of  which  city  are  twelve 
miles  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  shows  that  the  Moabites 
in  that  region  spoke  a  language  similar  to  the 
Hebrew. 

The  date  of  this  stone  is  about  900  B.  C.  Its 
inscription  is  a  remarkable  corroboration  of  the  his- 
tory contained  in  2  Kings  3. 

Discoveries  at  Sidon,  a  Phoenician  town  on  the 
Mediterranean,  and  at  other  places,  show  that  a 
modified  Hebrew  was  very  generally  the  language 
of  all  the  Canaanites. 

14.  The  pertinacity  with  which  the  more  de- 
vout and  learned  of  the  Israelites  held  to  the 
Hebrew  during  the  captivity  in  Assyria,  and  ever 
since  amid  all  nations  and  lands,  proves  that  they 
never  forgot  the  language  which  Abraham  spoke, 


THE   ENTRANCE   INTO   CANAAN.  99 

but  cherished  it  during  their  residence  in  the  land 
of  Egypt,  and  it  is  probable  that  before  their  en- 
trance into  Canaan  they  had  entirely  ceased  to 
speak  what  little  they  knew  of  the  Egyptian  tongue. 
They  were  the  more  able  and  ready,  therefore,  to 
receive  the  ten  commandments  and  all  the  rest  of 
those  laws  which  were  written  in  the  Hebrew.  And, 
moreover,  there  could  have  been  very  little  if  any 
difficulty  in  their  understanding  the  language  of 
the  inhabitants  into  whose  land  they  had  now  come. 

THE   PHYSICAL   GEOGRAPHY    OF   CANAAN. 

15.  The  land  of  Canaan  was  bounded  on  the 
west  by  the  Mediterranean,  on  the  east  by  the  Jor- 
dan, on  the  south  by  the  desert,  and  on  the  north  by 
the  mountains  of  Lebanon,  This  was  the  land  of 
promise. 

At  Jericho  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  is  a  depressed 
plain  about  850  feet  below  the  Mediterranean,  and 
the  surface  of  the  Dead  Sea  on  the  south  is  still 
lower,  being  1,293  feet  below  the  Mediterranean,  so 
that  from  ancient  Jericho  to  the  Dead  Sea,  six 
miles  distant,  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  falls  rapidly. 

Jerusalem  is  very  nearly  due  west  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Jordan,  and  is  placed  on  the  highest  land, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  between 
the  Jordan  and  the  Mediterranean  on  that  line  of 
latitude,  being  about  2,600  feet  higher  than  the  sea. 

16.  About    60  miles  in   a  straight  line   due 


lOO  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

north  of  the  Dead  Sea  the  Jordan  issues  from  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  the  waters  of  which  were  called,  in 
our  Saviour's  time,  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  and  the  Lake 
of  Gennesaret.  The  shape  of  the  lake  is  oval,  but 
broader  in  the  northern  half,  its  length  north  and 
south  being  nearly  thirteen  miles  and  greatest 
breadth  about  seven  miles.  Its  surface  is  682  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  hills 
on  the  eastern  shore  rise  to  the  height  of  the  great 
eastern  plateau  of  the  table-land  of  ancient  Bashan, 
which  is  2,000  feet  above  the  Mediterranean.  The 
waters  are  fresh  and  abound  with  fish. 

17.  In  the  times  of  Joshua  and  of  the  early 
occupation  of  the  land  by  the  Israelites,  the  lake 
was  called  Chinnereth  (Num.  34:11)  and  Chinne- 
roth  (Josh.  11:2),  \^pron.  Kin'neretJi  and  Ki7t'neroth\ 
and  a  city  of  the  same  name  existed  on  its  western 
shore  very  near  the  present  site  of  Tiberias.  Traces 
of  this  ancient  city  have  been  recently  (1887)  dis- 
covered just  outside  the  southern  walls. 

Ten  miles  north  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  is  a  smaller 
reedy  lake  four  miles  long,  which  is  supposed  to 
be  the  "  waters  of  Merom "  (Josh.  11:5),  but  now 
known  as  Huleh  by  the  Arabs.  Into  the  northern 
end  the  upper  Jordan  finds  its  way  as  it  descends 
from  the  lower  parts  of  Mt.  Hermon.  The  surface  of 
this  lake  is  seven  feet  above  the  Mediterranean,  and 
extended  plains  are  on  the  west  and  for  several 
miles  northward,  beyond  which  the  land  rapidly 
rises  into  the  mountains. 


THE  ENTRANCE  INTO  CANAAN.        lOI 

18.  The  country  is  uplifted  midway  between 
the  Jordan  and  the  Mediterranean  and  forms  an 
irregularly  broad  mountainous  ridge  stretching  from 
the  far  south  to  the  borders  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon, 
called  in  Scripture  "the  valley  of  Megiddo."  This 
plain  is  the  largest  in  Palestine  and  extends  from 
near  the  Mediterranean  on  the  west  to  a  valley 
plain  near  the  Jordan  valley  on  the  east,  where  it 
is  called  the  valley  of  Jezreel.  It  is  generally  about 
loo  feet  above  the  sea  level,  or  150  in  its  highest 
average  level. 

In  various  parts  it  has  been  the  chosen  battle- 
ground of  several  of  the  fiercest  contests  in  Biblical 
and  in  modern  warfare. 

North  of  the  plain  of  Jezreel  the  land  rises  again 
into  the  broken  and  irregular  hill  country  of  Galilee 
until  the  region  of  the  Lebanon  Mountains  appears. 


102  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   BATTLES   OF   CONQUEST. 

1.  The  capture  of  Jericho  was  not  the  re- 
sult of  battle,  but  was  due  to  the  divine  interfer- 
ence in  behalf  of  the  Israelites.  Jericho  was  a 
strong  city  and  well  defended  by  strong  walls,  and 
the  destruction  of  these  walls  under  the  simple  pro- 
cess described  in  the  text  was  not  only  a  lesson  of 
great  significance  to  the  Israelites,  but  it  indicated 
to  the  Canaanitish  tribes  the  mystery  of  that  power 
with  which  they  were  now  called  to  deal. 

Under  Joshua  three  great  battles  completed  the 
general  conquest  of  Canaan  and  transferred  to  the 
Israelites  the  cities  of  thirty  kings.  Josh.  12:9-24, 
and  if  we  include  the  king  of  Jericho  the  number 
will  be  thirty-one. 

Nearly  all  of  the  book  of  Joshua  is  composed 
of  the  history  of  these  battles  and  of  the  division 
of  the  land  among  the  tribes  after  the  conquest. 

3.  The  first  of  these  battles  took  place  on  the 
high  land  west  of  Jericho,  at  a  town  called  Ai  (pro- 
nounced A'-i).  The  site  of  this  ancient  town  is 
known,  and  it  was  not  far  off  from  the  site  of  Beth- 
el, which  is  13  miles  west  by  north  from  the  posi- 
tion of  Jericho  at  that  time.  Ai,  now  called  Haiyan, 
was  two  miles,  or  a  little  more,  east  of  Bethel. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   CONQUEST.  103 

Just  north  of  Ai  is  a  high  elevation,  2,570  feet 
above  the  Mediterranean,  whereas  the  site  of  Jer- 
icho at  the  fountain  of  Elisha*  is  700  feet  below,  so 
that  the  troops  of  Joshua  had  a  march  of  about  1,500 
feet  ascent  up  a  rocky  ravine.  Bethel  is  still  higher 
(2,890  feet). 

3.  The  first  great  battle  of  Ai  was  prece- 
ded by  defeat  in  what  may  be  called  a  mere  skir- 
mish, as  only  3,000  were  engaged.  This  defeat 
seems  to  have  been  divinely  allowed,  to  place  a 
terrible  emphasis  upon  the  truth  that  disobedience 
to  the  commands  of  God,  even  of  a  small  part  of  the 
people,  would  certainly  be  followed  by  punishment. 

The  result  was  terrible,  not  only  in  the  national 
mortification  consequent  upon  the  defeat,  but  in 
the  lesson  that  no  transgressor  could  escape  either 
by  hiding  himself  or  his  stolen  spoils,  which  in 
this  case  had  been  buried  in  the  ground  and  covered 
by  the  tent.  Josh.  7 :  1 1-26. 

4.  The  valley  of  Achor,  where  the  fearful 
punishment  was  inflicted,  is,  without  question,  the 
present  Wady  Kelt,  near  the  opening  of  which, 
upon  the  plain  of  Jordan,  was  the   city  of  Jericho. 

The  battle  was  renewed,  all  the  people  of  war 
were  engaged,  and  the  victory  was  complete. 

5.  The  next  event  of  great  importance  was 
the  gathering  of  all  the  people  in  a  central  part  of 
the  land  at  two  mountains  called  Ebal  and  Gerizim. 
This  gathering  was  in  execution  of  the  command 

*"  Now  called  Ain  es  Sultan. 


I04  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

of  Moses,  Detit.  27,  and  was  intended  to  cause  them 
to  renew  their  covenant  with  God  and  to  set  before 
them  the  blessings  which  should  be  granted  upon 
obedience  and  the  curses  which  should  follow  dis- 
obedience. 

EBAL   AND   GERIZIM. 

6.  The  location  for  this  great  g'athering 

was  admirably  chosen.  Ebal  is  a  mountain  whose 
highest  point  is  3,077  feet  above  the  Mediterranean. 
Gerizim,  right  opposite,  and  southward,  is  2,849  feet, 
and  between  them  is  the  valley,  whose  surface  is 
about  1,600  feet  above  the  sea.  In  this  valley,  which 
runs  east  and  west,  is  Shechem,  on  the  southern 
side  and  partly  built  upon  the  ascent  of  Mt.  Gerizim. 
The  gathering  may  have  taken  place  on  the  west 
of  the  city,  where  the  valley  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  that  part  of  the  western  extent  of  the 
Ebal  range  which  slightly  recedes  from  the  line 
of  the  valley  and  takes  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre. 
But  there  is  ample  room  on  the  east,  where  the 
elevations  of  both  sides  are  far  greater.  The  valley 
opens  eastward  upon  the  great  level  plain  of  Moreh, 
several  square  miles  in  extent.  Where  the  valley 
opens  upon  this  plain  is  the  well  of  Jacob  (John 
4 : 6),  and  not  far  north  of  this  well  is  the  traditional 
tomb  of  Joseph,  Josh.  24 :  32,  whose  embalmed  body 
they  buried  there  after  they  had  conquered  the 
country. 

7.  The  vicinity  of  this  well  and  the  former  his- 


THE   BATTLES   OF   CONQUEST.  I05 

tory  made  this  ground  sacred  to  the  Israelites,  for 
here  was  Jacob's  first  settlement  and  property,  pur- 
chased of  the  sons  of  Hamor,  the  father  of  Shechem, 
280  years  before.  Even  before  that  purchase  by 
Jacob  it  was  sacred,  because  that  189  years  before 
Jacob's  time  Abraham  built  here  an  altar  to  the  Lord 
after  that  He  had  appeared  to  him  and  promised  to 
give  this  land  unto  his  seed,  Gen.  12:6,  7. 

The  altar  built  here  by  Joshua,  Josh.  8 :  30,  was 
therefore  the  third  altar  erected  in  this  vicinity,  the 
first  by  Abraham  and  the  second  by  Jacob,  Gen. 
33:20. 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  great  battle  at  Ai  was 
fought  with  the  view  of  clearing  the  way  for  the 
uninterrupted  passage  of  the  entire  hosts  of  Israel  to 
the  plain  just  spoken  of,  called  the  plain  of  Moreh, 
which  stretches  out  eastward  from  the  bases  of  Ebal 
and  Gerizim,  and  was  20  miles  north  of  Ai. 

8.  Shechem  never  was  a  large  town  before  the 
conquest.  After  it  was  despoiled  by  the  sons  of 
Jacob  and  all  the  inhabitants  destroyed  or  taken  cap- 
tive. Gen.  34,  it  does  not  appear  as  re-settled  until 
after  the  arrival  of  the  Israelites  at  their  first  great 
national  convention  at  Ebal,  as  described  in  the 
eighth  chapter  of  the  book  of  Joshua. 

9.  The  second  great  battle  or  campaign  began 
at  Gibeon.  This  place  has  been  identified  with  an 
elevated  ruin  five  and  a  half  miles  northwest  of  Jeru- 
salem. It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Israelites 
returned  to  the  camp  at  Gilgal  near  the  ford  of  the 


I06  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Jordan,  this  being  their  first  great  camping-place, 
and  remaining  such  during  their  first  seven*  years, 
until  they  removed  to  Shiloh  and  set  up  the  Taber- 
nacle in  that  place,  Josh.  i8  :  i. 

During  the  second  campaign  Joshua  conquered 
nearly  all  the  southern  half  of  Palestine. 

10.  The  tbird  great  campaign  began  with  the 
greatest  battle  of  the  conquest,  at  the  M^aters  of  Me- 
rom,  Josh.  11:5.  Here  a  great  plain  exists  eight  or 
nine  miles  in  extent  north  and  south,  having  the 
waters  of  the  lake  with  a  part  of  the  upper  stream  of 
the  Jordan  on  the  east  border.  In  this  battle  the 
Israelites  came  off  victors,  and  then  followed  a  series 
of  reprisals,  which  with  previous  wars  consumed 
about  five  years. 

During  all  these  years  the  women  and  children, 
with  the  herds  and  flocks,  remained  at  Gilgal  on  the 
plains  of  the  Jordan  near  Jericho. 

11.  The  next  great  move  was  to  Shiloh.  This 
place  was  upon  the  highland  2,230  feet  above  the 
sea,  nineteen  miles  north  of  Jerusalem  and  about  the 
same  distance  from  the  camping-ground  at  Gilgal. 
We  suppose  that  the  Gilgal  of  this  time  was  about 
three  miles  southeast  of  ancient  Jericho  and  at  the 
pool  now  called  that  of  Jiljulieh. 

Some  remains  of  Shiloh,  now  called  Seilun,  yet 
appear,  partly  on  a  low  hill  surrounded  by  higher 
hills.  Jerome  says  that  in  his  time,  A.  D.  340-420,  it 
was  in  ruins.     The  top  of  the  hill  has  been  levelled 

*'  Ussher's  time  as  in  the  margin  of  our  Bibles. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   CONQUEST.  lO/ 

I 

for  several  hundred  feet,  where  are  found  some  an- 
cient foundations  and  hewn  stones,  and  here,  as  is 
supposed,  was  the  site  of  the  Tabernacle.  A  little 
over  a  half-mile  to  the  northeast  is  a  spring  called 
the  spring  of  Seilun,  and  a  pool  where  the  seizure  of 
the  young  women  described  in  Judg,  21 :  19-23  might 
very  easily  have  taken  place. 

12.  Sliiloh  remainetl  the  religious  capital  and 
the  city  where  the  Ark  and  the  Tabernacle  rested  for 
about  300  years,  until  the  Ark  was  removed  to  the 
battlefield,  i  Sam.  4:3,  and  captured  by  the  Philis- 
tines, after  which  it  was  never  returned  to  Shiloh. 
The  Tabernacle  and  the  brazen  altar  were  also  re- 
moved and  set  up  at  Gibeon  before  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem  was  built,  i  Chron.  16:  39  ;  21 129,  30.  Gib- 
eon  was  five  and  a  half  miles  northwest  of  Jerusalem 
and  2,535  feet  above  the  sea. 

For  the  history  of  the  capture  of  the  Ark,  its  res- 
toration to  Israel,  and  its  remaining  at  Kirjath-jearim 
many  years  before  its  placement  in  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem,  read  i  Sam.  4  and  6  with  7:1,  and  2  Sam. 
6,  also  I  Kin.  8 :  1-8. 

The  tradition  that  the  Ark  was  hidden  by  the 
prophet  Jeremiah  in  a  cavern  in  Mt.  Pisgah  has 
arisen  from  a  statement  in  the  second  book  of  Mac- 
cabees, 2  Mac.  2  :4,  written  about  B.  C.  144.  But  be- 
fore this  time  there  was  a  tradition  among  the  Jews, 
which  was  recorded  in  the  Babylonian  Talmud,*  that 
the  Ark  was  hidden  in  a  chamber  of  the  Temple 

*  The  Talmud  is  described  hereafter. 


I08  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRABHY. 

buildings,  and  out  of  this  seems  to  have  grown  the 
other  and  later  tradition.  The  Ark  was  probably- 
burned  at  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  under  Neb- 
uchadnezzar, B.  C.  588,  2  Chron.  36:  19. 

13.  Kirjatli-jearinij  where  the  Ark  remained 
so  long,  I  Sam.  7 :  2,  was  seven  miles  west  by  north 
of  Jerusalem.  In  this  connection  it  is  necessary  to 
say  that,  while  the  statement  in  i  Sam.  7 :  2  leaves 
the  impression  in  the  English  translation  that  20 
years  was  the  whole  time  during  which  the  Ark 
remained  at  that  place,  yet  "  the  sense  clearly  ex- 
pressed in  the  original "  is  that  from  the  first  placing 
of  the  Ark  at  Kirjath-jearim  20  years  transpired  of 
anxious  expectation  that  Jehovah  would  interpose 
for  the  deliverance  of  his  people  before  that  Samuel 
gave  them  any  hope.* 

The  Ark  remained  at  Kirjath-jearim  from  about 
the  time  of  Eli's  death  through  the  reign  of  Saul 
and  until  David  took  it  from  thence  to  Jerusalem, 
with  the  exception  of  the  three  months  during  which 
it  was  at  the  house  of  Obed-edom,  2  Sam.  6.  That 
was  from  about  B.  C.  1140  to  B.  C.  1042,  or  nearly 
one  hundred  years. 

14.  The  next  great  work  performed  at  Shiloh 
was  the  division  of  the  land  among  the  tribes  of 
Israel.  At  this  time,  about  1444  B.  C,  we  have  the 
first  recorded  survey,  and  this  was  described  by  the 
cities  then  existing  and  "  in  a  book,"  which  was  prob- 
ably attended  with  the  first  map  of  the  land. 

*  Bishop  Horsley. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   CONQUEST.  IO9 

Of  the  twelve  tribes,  the  Levites  received  no  dis- 
trict in  the  division,  they  having  been  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  Tabernacle.  Of  the  remaining  eleven 
tribes,  Manasseh  had  a  section  of  land  east  of  the 
Jordan  as  well  as  one  west. 

15.  After  this  division  the  appointment  of  six 
cities  of  refuge  was  made  both  east  and  west  of  the 
Jordan,  and  very  nearly  equally  distributed  north 
and  south.  Of  these  six  cities  only  the  three  west  of 
the  Jordan  have  been  identified  with  present  towns. 
One  was  Kedesh,  now  called  Kades,  four  miles  west 
by  north  of  the  "  waters  of  Merom."  It  was  on  a 
hill  overlooking  the  plain  on  the  west  of  the  "  wa- 
ters," which  are  now  known  by  the  name  of  the  Lake 
of  el-Huleh.  The  second  city  of  refuge  west  of  the 
Jordan  was  Shechem,  sixty-three  miles  towards  the 
south ;  and  the  third  Hebron,  eighteen  miles  south 
of  Jerusalem  and  about  fifty  south  of  Shechem. 
Those  east  of  Jordan  were  probably  very  nearly  on 
the  same  latitude,  namely,  Golan,  east  of  Kedesh ; 
Ramoth  in  Gilead,  east  of  Shechem,  probably  iden- 
tified with  the  town  now  called  es  Salt,  twelve  miles 
east  of  Jordan  on  an  elevation  2,500  feet  above  the 
Mediterranean  and  twenty  miles  north  of  the  Dead 
Sea;  and  Bezer,  not  yet  identified,  but  east  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  on  the  plains  of  Reuben. 

16.  The  ohject  of  this  appointment  of  cities 
of  refuge  was  to  protect  the  unintentional  manslayer 
from  the  vengeance  of  his  pursuer.  Any  one  who 
had  "  unwittingly  "  Josh.  20 :  3,  slain  a  man  might  fly 


no  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

to  the  nearest  city  of  refuge  and  "  declare  his  cause 
in  the  ears  of  the  elders  of  that  city,"  and  dwell  there 
until  his  case  was  decided  by  "  the  congregation  for 
judgment "  and  until  the  death  of  the  high-priest. 
The  guilty  party,  if  an  intentional  manslayer,  was 
delivered  up  to  the  avenger.     See  Deut.  19  :  11, 

The  cities  of  refuge,  as  we  have  seen,  were  as 
equally  distributed  throughout  the  land  as  the  posi- 
tions of  important  and  accessible  cities  would  admit. 

17.  The  blood  feud  had  existed  for  centuries 
under  the  traditionary  demand  of  "  a  life  for  a  life," 
and  this  demand,  without  the  slightest  regard  to  the 
intention  of  the  manslayer,  was  customary  and  even 
obligatory,  so  that  the  nearest  relative  of  the  slain 
man  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  destroying  the 
manslayer  whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  present- 
ed itself.  This  custom  was  modified  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  cities  of  refuge  and  by  the  institution  of 
laws  associated  with  their  appointment,  so  that  there- 
after the  innocent  slayer  should  not  suffer  equally 
with  the  guilty,  although  the  fact  that  he  had  shed 
blood  even  unintentionally  would  subject  him  to  the 
inconvenience  of  separation  from  his  family  for  a 
time. 

18.  The  rehearsal  of  the  Law  at  the  great  con- 
vention at  Shechem,  the  division  of  the  land  among 
the  tribes,  and  the  appointment  of  cities  of  refuge* 
were  equally  in  accordance  with  the  directions  of 

*  Deut.  27:12;  11:30;  Num.  34:13-29;  Exod.  21:13;  Num.  35:6,  11, 
14;  Deut.  19:2,  9. 


THE   BATTLES   OF   CONQUEST.  Ill 

Moses,  and  they  followed  upon  the  entrance  and  con- 
quest as  soon  as  it  was  possible  to  carry  them  into 
execution.  The  three  events  are  therefore  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  the  provisions 
of  the  law,  and  are  properly  connected  with  the  age 
of  Joshua,  although  some  writers  have  thought  that 
the  appointment  of  the  cities  of  refuge  took  place 
some  centuries  later. 


112  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  IDOLATRY. 

1.  During  the  life  of  Joshua  and  of  the  elders 
or  officers  who  outlived  their  leader  and  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  early  history  of  the  nation,  the 
Israelites  held  to  their  obedience  to  and  reverence 
for  the  Mosaic  law  in  all  its  bearings  upon  them. 
But  after  this  era  of  about  thirty  years  a  remarkable 
defection  took  place,  and  the  generation  which  grew 
up  was  drawn  into  alliances  and  such  social  inter- 
course with  the  inhabitants  that  many  were  won  over 
to  the  faith  and  rites  of  Canaanitish  idolatry. 

2.  It  should  be  renieniberetl  that  these  Ca- 
naanitish tribes  were  not  only  possessed  of  riches, 
but  they  showed  considerable  advance  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  art,  and  their  idolatries  were  attended  by  a 
degree  of  mystery  and  splendor  which  we  are  not 
accustomed  to  attribute  to  them.  These  conditions 
are  only  suggested  by  certain  intimations  in  the 
Scriptural  records,  but  plainly  shown  by  recent  dis- 
coveries, wherein  the  luxuries  and  riches  of  these 
nations  are  described  by  the  victors  in  their  records 
of  tribute  and  capture,  as  w^e  have  shown. 

3.  The  fascination  of  this  splendid  idolatry  had 
its  influence  upon  the  people  who  had  spent  their 
early  lives  in  the  monotony  of  the  desert  and  of  a 


THE   INTRODUCTION   OF    IDOLATRY.  II 3 

worship  which  was  devoid  of  images  or  of  anything 
which  could  impress  itself  upon  the  sight,  except 
the  distant  and  inaccessible  pillar  of  fire  and  cloud 
or  the  rarely  seen  and  approachless  Ark,  with  a  few 
other  objects  of  which  many  had  only  occasionally 
heard.  But  in  the  land  of  the  Canaanites  and  of 
their  own  tribes  they  met  the  symbols  of  the  worship 
of  Baal  and  of  Ashtoreth  upon  almost  every  high  hill 
and  in  every  beautiful  grove ;  they  saw  their  sacred 
sculptures  frequently  and  their  ornamented  temples, 
some  remains  of  which  are  found  upon  the  mount- 
ains of  Lebanon  at  the  present  day.  And  those 
who  could  not  see  them  were  daily  entertained  with 
vivid  descriptions  of  the  altars  and  the  gold  and  sil- 
ver ornaments  associated  with  the  worship  of  the 
moon  as  Ashtoreth  and  of  the  sun  as  Baal. 

4.  Baal  was  the  chief  god  of  Canaan,  whose 
worship  was  manifold  and  spread  through  the  Ca- 
naanitish  tribes  under  varied  names,  which,  though 
differing  in  form,  always  suggested  the  same  cruel 
or  obscene  worship.  Hence  the  term  in  Scripture 
Baalim,*  the  plural  of  Baal.  Thus  there  was  the 
Baal-thammuz,  Ezek.  8:14;  Baal-moloch  (the  fire 
Baal),  2  Kin.  23:10;  Baal-zebub,  2  Kin.  1:2,  pre- 
siding over  that  decomposition  which  gave  rise  to 
new  life,  for  zebub,  "  flies,"  symbolized  that  life ; 
hence  the  Jewish  form  in  the  time  of  Christ  of  Beel- 
zebub as  a  burlesque  upon  the  word  and  worship, 
since  zebul  (the  Greek  in  the  New  Testament)  was  a 

«  The  affix  "im  "  to  a  word  was  equivalent  to  the  letter  s  in  English. 

Biblical  History  and  Ocograpliy. 


114  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

sarcasm  intended  to  mean  dung,  and  Satan  was  thus 
contemptuously  called  lord  of  the  dung -heap  or 
Beelzebul.  A  change  of  place  also  changed  the 
form  of  the  name — Baal-hermon,  Baal-hazor,  Baal- 
meon,  etc. 

5.  The  worship  of  Baal  and  of  Ashtoreth  was 
attended  by  great  cruelty  and  debauchery.  These 
features  were  stamped  upon  all  the  ceremonies  of 
their  worship  and  the  precepts  of  their  religion. 
No  other  people  ever  rivalled  them  in  the  mix- 
ture of  bloodshed  and  debauchery.*  Every  influ- 
ence for  good  seemed  to  have  been  banished  from 
their  religion.  Their  most  frightful  worship  was 
that  of  Baal-moloch,  referred  to  above.  In  this  chil- 
dren were  burned  alive  by  their  parents ;  and  this 
practice  in  honor  of  Baal  was  carried  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians even  to  Carthage,  where  it  became  an  institu- 
tion of  the  State. 

6.  It  was  to  avoid  the  contamination  of 
these  various  idolatries  that  Moses  commanded  the 
extermination  of  the  Canaanites,  and  it  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  permitted  the  Canaanites  to  reside 
among  them  that  the  Israelites  soon  fell  into  their 
ways  of  worship,  and  in  after  years  they  were  led  in 
some  degree  to  adopt  even  the  rites  of  the  bloody 
Moloch. 

*  Lenormant,  Vol.  II.,  p.  223. 


THE  PERIOD   OF  THE  JUDGES.  II5 

PERIOD  IV. 

THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  JUDGES. 

ABOUT  B.  C.   1402-1060  (USSHER),  BUT  FROM   HISTORY  APPARENTLY 
OVER  400  YEARS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   NATURE   OF  THE   OFFICE.      THE   CHRONOLOGY. 

1.  Soon  after  the  death,  of  Josliua  the  con- 
quest of  the  land  was  continued  under  the  lead  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah.  But  the  Israelites  soon  began  to  be 
affiliated  with  the  inhabitants.  Intermarriages,  com- 
mercial and  social  intercourse  brought  about  the 
change  whereby  the  worship  of  Baal  and  Ashtoreth 
took  the  place  of  the  ancient  service  of  the  God  of 
their  fathers,  and  the  Israelites  seemed  to  be  given 
up  to  the  idolatries  of  the  surrounding  nations. 

2.  A  long  series  of  captivities  and  servitudes 
now  began  which  introduced  a  new  class  of  public 
officers,  called  Judges,  who  united  the  office  of 
general-in-chief  and  of  referee  in  civil  cases,  thus 
partaking  somewhat  of  the  duties  indicated  by  the 
name  "  judge  "  by  which  they  are  called  in  Scrip- 
ture. 

3.  But  the  duties  of  the  so-called  judge  varied 


Il6  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

with  the  times  and  the  person.  Gideon  declined  to 
rule,  delegating  all  rule  to  Jehovah,  and  acted  only 
as  deliverer.  His  son  Abimelech  coveted  the  office 
of  king,  and  was  the  only  king  during  this  period 
and  the  first  king  in  any  part  of  Israel.  Eli  judged 
Israel  40  years,  i  Sam.  4:  18,  and  was  a  noted  high- 
priest.  Samuel  judged  all  the  days  of  his  life,  i  Sam. 
7:15,  and  was  also  the  first  of  the  long  unbroken 
series  of  prophets,  uniting  with  this  accredited  and 
newly  created  office  that  of  sacrifice  and  intercession 
for  the  people,  i  Sam.  7:5.  Samuel  closed  the  line 
of  Judges. 

4.  The  period  of  the  Judges  presents  us  with 
a  most  singular  form  of  government  and  totally  un- 
like any  other  form  which  either  had  preceded  or 
did  succeed  it.  These  rulers  were  generally  divinely 
appointed,  but  at  times  seem  to  have  been  elected  by 
the  people,  as  in  the  case  of  Jephthah  and  Abime- 
lech, Judg.  11:6;  9:3. 

5.  The  most  remarkable  fact  connected  with 
the  history  of  the  times  of  the  Judges,  from  about 
B.  C.  1 400- 1 060,  is  found  in  the  private  and  public 
idolatry  of  the  Israelites.  This  idolatry  should  be 
considered  in  view  of  the  covenant  their  fathers  had 
solemnly  made  at  Sinai,  and  more  especially  in  view 
of  the  warnings  by  Moses,  reiterated  by  Joshua,  and 
despite  the  consecration  of  themselves  at  Shechem. 
Many  who  were  living  at  this  time  had  formed  a  part 
of  the  great  convention  of  consecration  and  covenant 
held  under  Joshua.    Notwithstanding  all  these  prom- 


THE    PERIOD   OF   THE   JUDGES.  II7 

ises  of  loyalty  to  God,  there  seems  to  have  been  no 
form  of  idolatry  into  which  they  did  not  fall.  The 
cause  of  this  strange  defection  is  very  forcibly  pre- 
sented in  Judg.  3  :  5-8. 

Another  remarkable  feature  of  this  age  is  seen  in 
the  renewals  of  idolatry  after  equally  repeated  deliv- 
erances from  distressful  servitudes  followed  by  tem- 
porary  reforms. 

6.  One  constant  cause  of  the  persistent  idola- 
try was  doubtless  to  be  found  in  the  continued  social 
relations  of  the  Israelites  with  the  tribes  of  the  Ca- 
naanites.  The  wisdom  of  the  forewarnings  of  Moses, 
Deut.  7:3-5,  and  of  Joshua,  and  of  the  command 
made  very  early  in  their  history  that  the  Canaanites 
should  be  driven  out  from  the  land,  and  that  no 
association  should  be  had  with  them,  is  now  very 
apparent,  Exod.  34:  16.  The  non-observance  of  the 
command  was  followed  by  these  intimate  relations  all 
over  the  lahd.  At  least  seven  tribes  are  named,  Judg. 
I,  as  living  together  with  the  Canaanites.  Even  Ju- 
dah,  Benjamin,  and  the  Jebusites  dwelt  in  Jerusalem 
together  at  this  time.  Josh.  15  :  63  and  Judg.  1:21. 

7.  The  Canaanites  therefore  were  admit- 
ted into  the  nation  of  Israelites  by  a  kind  of  natural- 
ization, and  they  brought  in  with  them  their  customs 
and  idolatries,  although  they  themselves  were  made 
tributary. 

8.  Tlie  history  of  tlie  times  of  the  Judges  is 
derived  mainly  from  the  books  of  Jiidges,  Ruth,  and 
I  Samuel.      But  considerable  light  is  added  from  the 


Il8  BIBLICAL   HISTORY  AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

records  of  surrounding  nations,  especially  from  those 
of  the  Egyptians.  In  a  poem  by  the  poet  laureate  of 
the  times  of  Rameses  II.,  B.  C.  1350,  it  is  asserted 
that  the  Hittites  in  a  battle  on  the  plain  of  Esdraelon 
had  2,500  chariots  of  war.  This  was  before  the 
Israelites  left  Egypt,  and  the  monuments  record  that 
Rameses  III.  captured  994  Canaanitish  chariots. 

The  goddess  Ashtoreth  was,  according  to  Naville, 
the  patroness  of  war-chariots,  and  although  the  char- 
iots taken  by  Joshua  were  drawn  by  horses.  Josh. 
11:6,  we  find  them  on  some  of  the  monuments  repre- 
sented as  drawn  by  oxen,  and  it  is  said  that  oxen 
have  been  trained  to  run  fast. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  use  of  scythes 
or  swords  attached  to  the  wheels  or  sides  of  chariots 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  in  vogue  until  after 
this  period.* 

9.  The  Israelites  had  no  war  chariots  until  the 
time  of  David,  2  Sam.  8 : 4,  and  it  is  highly  improba- 
ble that  at  that  time  they  were  used  for  war  pur- 
poses, but  only  as  baggage  or  forage  wagons,  and  the 
remaining  number  taken  in  battle  were  disjointed, 
crippled,  or  destroyed,  as  the  Hebrew  text  is  transla- 
ted in  the  Septuagint,  and  not  that  the  horses  were 
"  houghed,"f  as  in  our  English  version. 

10.  Solomon,  B.  C.  992,  gathered  chariots  from 
Egypt  and  horses,  although  he  was  a  man  of  peace, 

*  Geikie,  Vol.  II.,  p.  466. 

t  Meaning  "  hamstrung."     Our  version  puts  horses  in  italics,  show- 
ing that  it  is  not  in  the  original. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   THE   JUDGES. 


119 


and  it  does  not  appear  for  what  purpose  the  chariots 
were  used  except  for  display ;  but  the  act  was  cer- 
tainly in  direct  violation  of  the  law,  Deut.  17:  14-20, 
and  marked  the  beginning  of  that  king's  departure 
from  the  service  of  Jehovah. 

11.  The  clironolog'y  of  the  times  of  the 
Judges  is  not  clearly  made  out.  It  cannot  be  deter- 
mined that  the  Judges  all  reigned  consecutively  or 
that  any  one  Judge  had  authority  over  any  larger 
district  than  that  of  a  few  tribes.  The  Scriptural 
order  seems  to  be  as  follows : 


Conquerors. 

Duration    of 
servitude. 

The  Judge. 

Duration  in  office, 
or  "  Rest." 

Besan  to  rule  B.  C. 

iUSKber). 

8  years. 
18      " 

? 
20      " 

7 

1402 
1394 
1354 

? 

Eglon 

Othniel 

40  years. 

Philistines 

Ehud 

Shamgar 

80  years. 
? 

Jabin,   a    Canaanite 
king  at  Razor  __- 

Midianites     and 

I316 

1296 
1256 
1249 
1209 
I2d6 

Deborah  and  Ba- 
rak   

40  years. 

Gideon 

Abimelecb 

Tola    -       

40  years. 
3       " 

^^       '.', 
22       " 

18      " 
40      " 

Jair 

1 183 

1 161 

Philistines  and  Am- 
nion 

Jephthah 

Ibzan 

6  years. 

7  '• 
10      " 

8  " 

II43 

1 137 

1 1  ^0 

El  on     -- 

Philistines 

Abdon  

1 1 20 

1 1 12 

Samson 

Eli ._ 

Samuel 

SAUL 

20  years. 

40      " 
All  the  days 
of  his    life, 
I  Sam. 7: 15. 

dies  1060 
1095 

FIRST    VKAR 
OF  RKIGN. 

I20  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

The  period  of  the  Judges  closed  at  the  time  when 
Saul  was  appointed  king,  B.  C.  1095.  Joshua  died 
B.  C.  1426,  as  is  supposed,  but  some*  have  thought 
that  at  least  thirty  years  passed  between  the  death  of 
Joshua  and  the  first  servitude,  and  the  general  opin- 
ion is  that  at  least  four  hundred  years,  or  even  four 
hundred  and  fifty,  must  be  taken  as  the  length  of 
time  from  Joshua  to  Saul,  the  first  king.  By  adding 
the  time  of  the  servitudes  and  those  of  the  rules  of 
the  Judges,  including  the  time  from  the  death  of 
Joshua,  we  have  about  the  sum  stated  in  Acts  1 3  :  20. 
But  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  chronology  of  this 
period  with  that  of  other  periods  because  of  the  want 
of  sufficient  fulness  of  statement  in  the  history  of 
the  Judges.f 

*  Browne  in  "  Ordo  Saeculorum,"  Vol.  I.,  chap.  5,  sec.  3. 
t  For  another  solution  of  the  chronology  of  this  period  see  the  "  Old 
Testament  Student,"  January,  1884. 


THE   SCRIBES   OF  THE  AGE.  121 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE   SCRIBES   OF   THE   AGE. 

1.  It  should   be   remembered  that  during 

these  ages  in  all  prominent  nations  the  office  of 
scribe  or  historian  was  a  very  important  one,  the 
existence  of  which  was  very  general.  Before  the 
Exodus  the  historians  accompanied  the  kings  of 
Egypt  and  Assyria  in  their  expeditions.  Several 
references  to  such  persons  are  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, 2  Kin.  25:19;  2  Chron.  26:11,  as  especially 
belonging  to  the  army.  They  are  called  "  remem- 
brancers "  and  "writers  of  chronicles"  or  "record- 
ers "  in  the  time  of  David,  2  Sam.  8:16.  There  were 
also  poets,  who  described  the  events  of  the  national 
history  or  the  prowess  of  the  king,  not  only  in  Egypt 
and  Assyria,  long  before  David,  but  also  in  Israel. 
The  book  of  Jasher  referred  to  in  Josh.  10:13  and 
2  Sam.  1:18  was  probably  a  poetic  history  of  heroic 
acts,  very  similar  to  one  discovered  in  Egypt,  called 
the  poem  of  Pentaur,  celebrating  the  courage  of  the 
Pharaoh,  Rameses  II.,  who  was  contemporary  with 
Moses. 

2.  The  number  of  writers  of  different  kinds 
must  have  been  much  g-reater  than  is  generally 
supposed.  At  a  very  early  period  during  the  resi- 
dence of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  the  taskmasters  were 


122  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

always  accompanied  with  "writers,"  called  "officers" 
in  our  version,  Exod.  5  :  6,  and  we  find  them  pictured 
on  the  monuments^  with  their  tablets  and  reeds,  wri- 
ting even  while  walking.  The  children  of  Israel 
had  scribes  also  on  their  brick-fields  to  check  off  the 
records  of  those  who  wrote  for  the  taskmasters,  Exod. 
5:15,  19.  So  also  the  Judges  in  "the  gates"*  had 
their  writers,  Deut.  16:  18,  also  called  "  officers." 

Writers  were  employed  for  such  engineering  pur- 
poses as  are  recorded  in  Josh.  18:9,  and  these  were 
not  simply  draughtsmen  who  mapped  the  country  in 
a  book,  but  also  recorded  the  position  of  cities,  of 
which  not  less  than  four  hundred  and  eleven  are 
mentioned  by  name. 

3.  In  more  recent  times  there  arose  the  class 
of  writers  called  by  the  Hebrews  "  Soplierim  "  or 
"scribes,"  who  appear  to  have  been  high  officers  of 
the  State  or  secretaries,  recording  edicts  of  the  king 
besides  the  many  important  occurrences  of  history. 

4.  That  writers  or  scribes  existed  at  so  early 
a  period  as  that  when  the  Israelites  were  in  the  des- 
ert is  certain  from  the  statement  in  Num.  11  :  16, 
where  Moses  is  commanded  to  assemble  these  wri- 
ters with  the  seventy  elders.  It  is  plain  from  these 
instances  that  there  were  numbers  in  the  camp  who 
were  expert  writers,  and  it  is  highly  probable  that 
many  of  the  people  were  instructed  through  their 
writings,  not  only  then,  but  during  all  the  residence 
of  the  Israelites  in  Canaan. 

*  The  place  where  the  courts  were  held. 


THE   SCRIBES   OF   THE   AGE.  1 23 

5.  There  were  men  then,  as  now,  peculiar- 
ly fitted  to  record  current  events,  or  interested  in 
genealogy,  or  gifted  with  poetic  talent,  and  their 
inclinations  led  them  to  make  records  which  were 
interesting  at  those  periods,  or  to  make  "  books " 
which  were  known  to  be  faithful  and  authentic ;  and 
hence  in  no  less  than  fourteen  instances  there  seem 
to  be  references  to  such  books  throughout  the  Old 
Testament  writings:  Num.  21:14;  Josh.  10:13; 
I  Sam.  10:25;  I  Kin.  4:32,  33;  11:41;  i  Chron. 
27:24;  29:  29;  2  Chron.  9  :  29  ;  12:  15  ;  13  :22  ;  12: 15  ; 
20:34;  33:  19;  35:25. 

6.  It  is  certain  therefore  that  in  the  times  of 
the  monarchy  public  records  were  carefully 
kept,  and  even  long  before  that  time  the  people  were 
not  without  their  historians,  who  wrote  down  all  im- 
portant events  and  preserved  and  copied  writings  for 
others  then  living  and  for  those  who  should  come 
after  them. 


124  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

PERIOD   V. 

THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  KmCS  TO  THE  CAP^ 
TIYITY. 

FROM  B.  C.  ABOUT  1095  TO  B.  C.  588,  507  YEARS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN   OF   THE   MONARCHY.      REIGN   OF   SAUL. 

1.  One  of  the  most  evident  results  of  the  inti- 
mate associations  of  the  Israelites  with  the  Ca- 
naanitish  tribes  was  the  desire  to  have  a  king. 

In  the  transition  from  the  era  of  the  Judges  to 
that  of  the  Kings  there  arose  a  man  whose  earli- 
est days  had  been  passed  in  the  precincts  of  the  Tab- 
ernacle at  Shiloh  under  the  care  of  Eli,  the  priest  and 
judge  of  Israel.  He  seems  to  have  been  one  whose 
evident  piety  and  clear  and  manly  judgment  had 
impressed  the  people  with  a  reverence  for  him  from 
his  earliest  days.  No  other  person  in  the  times  of 
the  Judges  seems  to  have  been  known  so  universally 
as  uniting  in  one  man  divine  authority  and  wisdom, 
and  of  no  other  had  it  been  said  that  "  all  Israel,  from 
Dan  to  Beersheba,  knew  that  Samuel  was  estab- 
lished to  be  a  prophet  of  the  Lord,"  i  Sam.  3 :  20. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   MONARCHY.  1 25 

2.  With  Samuel,  as  we  have  said,  the  line  of 
the  Judges  closes.  By  divine  direction  he  gratified 
the  demands  of  the  people  by  appointing  Saul  king 
over  Israel,  but  not  without  a  solemn  warning  as  to 
the  despotism  with  which  the  kings,  in  the  future, 
would  rule  over  them. 

The  whole  land  now  becomes  united  under  one 
ruler  as  a  king,  but  at  the  same  time  strongly  in- 
fluenced by  the  prophetic  authority  of  Samuel,  who 
seems  never  to  have  lost  power,  either  over  the 
people  or  the  king. 

3.  Dan  and  Beersheba  were  towns  which  in 
common  speech  limited  the  whole  land,  the  former 
on  the  north,  the  later  on  the  south.  Dan  was  the 
name  of  only  the  tribe  on  the  Mediterranean  west 
of  Jerusalem  until  the  time  that  a  colony  from 
this  tribe  migrated  to  the  extreme  north  of  Canaan, 
beyond  all  the  tribes,  and  drove  out  a  company  of 
Sidonians  who  had  settled  by  themselves  near  the 
southern  parts  of  Mt.  Hermon,  in  a  place  before 
called  Laish.  This  town  the  Danites  conquered, 
and,  taking  possession  of  the  place,  named  it  Dan, 
after  their  ancestor. 

Scarcely  anything  remains  of  this  ancient  city, 
but  its  location,  called  Tel  el-Kady  is  beautiful,  at 
the  head  of  the  plain  of  Huleh,  nearly  twenty-five 
miles  north  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  There  are  two  fine 
springs  at  the  ancient  site  and  the  elevation  is  505 
feet  above  the  Mediterranean,  which  is  twenty-five 
miles  distant,  on  the  west,  to  a  point  near  the  city 


126  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

of  Tyre,  which  then  existed.     Dan  was  in  the  region 
assigned  to  the  tribe  of  Naphtali. 

4.  Beersheba  was  exactly  148  miles  south-south- 
west of  Dan.  Here  the  only  remains  consist  of  two 
very  ancient  large  wells.  The  site  still  bears  the 
ancient  name  and  is  twenty-seven  miles  southwest 
from  Hebron.  The  wells  contain  excellent  water 
and  show  the  rope-grooves  of  many  centuries  in 
the  massive  stones  with  which  they  are  lined  and 
curbed. 

5  The  introduction  of  Saul  to  the  full  pos- 
session of  the  kingly  office  and  authority  was  after 
his  first  battle,  near  a  place  east  of  the  Jordan, 
called  Jabesh-gilead. 

The  Ammonites  had  come  up  against  this  city 
from  the  south  and  demanded  its  unconditional  sur- 
render. In  their  distress  they  sent  to  their  brethren, 
at  Gibeah,  where  Saul  resided.  Saul  seems  to  have 
had,  at  this  time,  but  little  to  do  as  king,  and  it  was 
not  until  he  returned  from  the  field,  where  he  had 
been  attending  to  his  cattle,  that  on  inquiry  he 
learned  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh- 
gilead  and  their  appeal  for  help  to  their  brethren, 
who  were  publicly  lamenting  their  inability  to  give 
them  any  aid. 

6.  Saul  immecliately  hewed  a  yoke  of 
oxen  into  pieces,  and  sending  messengers  with 
pieces  of  the  oxen  throughout  the  entire  land  of 
Israel,  made  wise  use  of  the  name  of  Samuel  in 
union   with    his    own,   in   the   threat,    "  Whosoever 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   MONARCHY.  I27 

Cometh  not   forth  after  vSaul  and  after  Samuel,  so 
shall  it  be  done  unto  his  oxen,"  i  Sam.  11:7. 

No  such  universal  call  to  united  effort  had  before 
sounded  over  the  land  for  ages.  It  was  the  sword 
of  the  king  and  the  authority  of  Samuel  the  prophet 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  call  -was  honored  from  Dan  to 
Beersheba.  The  messengers  from  the  besieged  city- 
were  hurried  back  with  the  cheering  reply  from  the 
gathering  army,  "  To-morrow  by  that  time  the  sun 
be  hot  ye  shall  have  help,"  i  Sam.  11:9. 

JABESH-GILEAD. 

7.  Jabesli-gilead  is  not  certainly  identified, 
but  it  was  not  far  off  from  a  valley  known  as  Wady 
Jabes,  or  Yabes,  about  twenty  miles  southeast  of 
the  Sea  of  Galilee,  in  the  land  of  Gilead. 

Bezek,  where  the  hosts  gathered  before  they 
started  to  cross  the  Jordan,  was  some  plain  near 
the  Jordan  not  yet  identified. 

8.  Three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
of  Israel  gathered  themselves  together  in  three 
bands  and  hastily  crossed  the  Jordan  in  the  night, 
and  before  the  heat  of  day  they  had  slain  and  routed 
the  Ammonites  in  the  greatest  battle  that  had  been 
known  in  Canaan  for  several  centuries. 

So  great  was  the  reaction  from  the  long-contin- 
ued indifference  to  united  effort,  and  especially  to 
the  publicly  expressed  lack  of  confidence  in  Saul, 
that,  in  keeping  with  their  rude  manners,  they  de- 


128  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

manded  the  immediate  execution  of  those  who  had 
spoken  against  the  king. 

9.  But  Samuel  turned  this  feeling"  into 
another  channel.  He  summoned  a  great  gathering 
similar  to  the  one  called  by  Joshua  300  years  before 
at  Shechem,  but  at  this  time  the  assembly  was  at 
Gilgal.  Here  they  renewed  their  promises  to  God 
and  to  the  king.  This  was  the  Gilgal  which  was 
upon  the  plains  of  Jericho,  and  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken. 

10.  Saul  now  became  king  in  its  fullest 
sense.  His  first  act  was  to  appoint  a  standing  army 
of  3,000.  By  an  ill-timed  attack  upon  an  outpost 
of  the  Philistines  the  anger  of  that  entire  nation 
was  aroused  at  a  time  when  the  Israelites  were 
unprepared  to  meet  them.  Samuel  was  called  upon 
for  advice  and  service,  but  Saul's  impatience  and 
disobedience  to  the  directions  of  the  prophet  dis- 
couraged Samuel  so  greatly  that  he  withdrew  from 
Saul.  Jonathan  by  a  stratagem  executed  in  the 
night,  I  Sam.  14,  created  a  panic  in  the  Philistine 
army,  and  the  Israelites,  gathering  together  from 
various  hiding-places  to  which  they  had  fled  in 
their  fear,  joined  in  pursuit,  until  the  Philistines 
were  driven  back  to  their  own  country,  which  was 
upon  the  southwest  coast  of  Palestine  about  forty 
miles  distant. 

But  the  repeated  instances  of  disobedience,  cou- 
pled with  deception,  on  the  part  of  Saul  led  Samuel 
to  withdraw  from  the  king  entirely  and  for  ever,  and 


ORIGIN   OF   THE    MONARCHY.  1 29 

by  divine  appointment  he  anointed  David,  in  pri- 
vate, to  be  successor  to  Saul.  David's  appointment 
was  suspected,  and  it  aroused  the  bitter  jealousy  of 
the  king,  which  was  shown  by  his  continued  pursuit 
and  persecution  of  David,  until  the  great  and  final 
battle  of  Saul's  reign,  which  took  place  on  the  plain 
of  Jezreel,  against  the  Philistines,  about  B.  C.  1056. 

SAUL'S   LAST   BATTLE. 

11.  This  battle,  with  its  associated  geography 
and  incidental  history,  requires  some  knowledge  of 
the  localities  of  Shunem,  Gilboa,  and  En-dor. 

The  Philistines,  with  whom  Saul  was  soon  to 
contend,  had  approached  the  great  plain  of  Esdrae- 
lon  from  their  coast  on  the  southwest.  They  had 
passed  up  the  plain  of  Sharon  northward  along  the 
shore  of  the  Great  Sea  and  entered  through  the  pass 
of  Mt.  Carmel,  which  range  limits  this  plain  on  the 
southwest,  and  thus  they  had  entered  the  plain 
which  we  have  already  described,  page  loi. 

Saul  had  gathered  his  army,  and  passing  north- 
ward along  the  central  elevated  ridge,  had  reached 
the  same  plain  at  the  town  of  En-gannim,  which 
is  on  the  edge  of  the  southern  border  and  overlooks 
the  plain.  Shunem  was  ten  miles  north.  Here  the 
Philistines  were  now  gathering  in  their  forces  from 
the  west,  since  the  pass  is  sixteen  miles  west  of 
Shunem. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Gen.  Kleber,  under 
Napoleon  I.  in  his  battle  with  the  Turks,  1799,  drew 

lillilU-ttl  History  and  Gcogrftphy.  6 


130  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

up  his  smaller  army  of  fifteen  hundred  in  a  square 
occupying  exactly  the  same  ground  which  a  part 
of  the  Philistine  army  covered  at  this  time,  while 
the  Turks  with  their  twenty-five  thousand  covered 
more  of  the  same  battle-ground  on  the  north.* 

13.  Sliunem,  now  called  Solam,  is  on  the  west 
and  southern  end  of  the  short  hill  range  running 
east,  and  supposed  to  be  the  hill  of  Moreh,  but  the 
Philistines  occupied  the  plain  on  the  south  of  this 
ridge-end,  for  Saul's  army  was  across  the  valley  on 
the  west  end  of  Mt.  Gilboa  and  immediately  opposite 
the  Philistines.  Between  the  two  armies  was  the 
valley  of  Jezreel  running  down  eastward  to  Beth- 
shean  in  the  valley  of  Jordan.  The  town  of  Jezreel, 
which  gave  name  to  the  valley,  was  south  of  Shu- 
nem — Shunem  on  the  Philistines'  side,  Jezreel  on 
that  of  Saul. 

Just  one  mile  and  a  half  southeast  of  the  valley 
of  Jezreel  is  the  "  Fountain  of  Jezreel,"  now  a  large 
body  of  water  fed  by  a  spring  called  Ain  Jalud.  This 
is  probably  both  the  Fountain  of  Jezreel  of  i  Sam. 
29: 1,  and  the  "water"  referred  to  in  Judg.  7:4.  It 
is  also  the  "well  of  Harod  "  of  the  first  verse. 

It  was  just  two  centuries  before  this  battle  that 
Gideon  at  this  place  obtained  his  great  victory  over 
the  Midianites,  and  it  was,  perhaps,  chosen  by  Saul 
because  of  the  fountain. 

13.  As  Saul  had  more  than  300,000  warriors 
in  his  battle  with  the  Ammonites  and  was  as  fully 

*  Burckhardt's  "  Travels,"  p.  339. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE    MONARCHY.  13I 

aware  of  the  seriousness  of  a  conflict  with  the  Phi- 
listines as  he  was  there  with  the  Ammonites,  it  is 
probable  that  he  brought  into  the  field  as  many  as 
he  then  had.  The  Philistines  had  a  much  larger 
number  than  Saul,  and  the  total  number  therefore 
in  conflict  could  not  have  been  less  than  700,000. 

The  evening  before  the  morning  of  the  battle 
Saul  came  fully  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Philistines 
were  too  strong  for  the  forces  under  his  command. 
In  his  forlorn  belief  in  the  spirit  world  and  in  the 
existence  of  Samuel,  although  three  years  dead, 
he  determined  upon  an  interview  with  the  prophet 
if  it  were  possible  by  a  witch's  power  of  incantation 
to  obtain  it.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark,  Saul,  disguised, 
and  with  two  trusty  servants,  crossed  the  valley 
from  Gilboa  northward  to  the  village  of  En-dor, 
where  in  the  caves  near  at  hand  there  dwelt  such  a 
woman  as  he  sought.  The  distance  from  the  Foun- 
tain of  Jezreel  is  about  seven  miles  north.  The 
interview  with  Samuel,  which  seems  to  have  been 
as  unlooked  for  and  as  terrible  to  the  witch  as  it 
was  dreadful  and  disheartening  to  Saul,  is  recorded 
in  I  Sam.  28  :3-25. 

14.  Early  the  next  day  the  battle  began.  The 
place  called  Aphek,  where  the  main  centre  or  head- 
quarters of  the  Philistines  was  located,  is  not  known, 
but  was  probably  a  mile  southwest  of  Shunem,  where 
the  left  wing  of  the  army  extended  upon  the  line  of 
its  approach.  The  Philistines  had  the  army  of  Saul 
at  terrible  disadvantage  from  the  fact  that  his  troops 


132  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

were  drawn  up  southeast  of  them  against  the  foot  of 
Gilboa  and  slightly  covering  its  sides,  and  thus  ele- 
vated to  the  shafts  of  the  archers.  It  was  at  about 
this  age  that  the  bow  in  war  was  used  with  terrible 
fatality  by  some  of  the  African  nations,  and  the  Phi- 
listines had  added  this  weapon  to  their  javelins  and 
short  arms.* 

15.  It  -was  a  battle  of  arrows  against  swords 
and  slings,  and  the  archers  won  the  victory,  and  after 
a  long  day's  fearful  contest  Saul  and  his  three  sons 
lay  dead  among  the  defeated  thousands  that  covered 
the' flanks  of  Gilboa. 

Beth-shean  was  in  sight  eastward  down  the  val- 
ley of  Jezreel.  It  probably  was  never  a  Jewish  but 
always  a  Canaanitish  city,  and  here  the  Philistines 
the  next  day  carried  the  headless  trunk  of  Saul's  body 
and  nailed  it  upon  the  outside  walls  with  the  bodies 
of  his  sons,  while  the  salted  head  of  the  king  was 
sent  to  the  land  of  the  victors  to  be  carried  around 
through  the  cities  of  the  Philistines  on  exhibition. 

Large  numbers  of  the  Philistines  now  took  pos- 
session of  the  vacated  cities,  and  many  of  the  Israel- 
ites crossed  the  Jordan  to  find  other  homes  until  bet- 
ter times  should  come. 

ZIKLAG   AND   THE   SOUTH   COUNTRY. 

16.  Among  the  vast  numbers  of  the  Philis- 
tine army,  as  they  came  upon  the  plain  from  Mt. 

*•  Osburn's  "Ancient  Egypt,"  p.  138.     London.     Samuel  Bagster  & 
Sons. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   MONARCHY.  1 33 

Carmel,  David's  royal  friend,  King  Acliish,  occupied 
the  rear,  and  David  and  his  small  band  would  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  lack  of  the  conventional  army 
uniform,  which  could  be  seen  at  a  great  distance. 
The  appearance  of  the  Philistines  in  war  was  spe- 
cially distinguishable  from  that  of  all  other  warriors 
by  a  peculiar  head-dress  and  tightly-fitting  tunic, 
leaving  the  arms  bare. 

But  David's  presence  formed  ground  for  sus- 
picion, and  he  was  dismissed  to  return  with  his  men 
to  Ziklag.  The  situation  of  this  place  is  not 
known,  but  from  various  circumstances  it  could  not 
have  been  far  off  from  the  hill  country  of  Judaea  and 
in  the  general  vicinity  and  south  of  Gath,  since 
Achish,  who  gave  him  the  place,  was  king  of  that 
city.* 

17.  On  his  return  to  Ziklag,  finding  that  the 
Amalekites  of  the  far  south  had  burned  his  city  and 
carried  off  all  the  families,  David  and  his  men  pur- 
sued after  them,  recovered  all,  and  returned  to  Zik- 
lag. "The  south"  was  a  special  term  for  that 
country  beginning  somewhere  about  Beersheba  and 
reaching  fifty  or  sixty  miles  south,  and  perhaps  far- 
ther. 

18.  The  duration  of  Saul's  reig-n  was  about 
forty  years,  or  as  the  commonly  received  chronology 
presents  it,  from  1095  B.  C.  to  1056  B.  C,  and  at  the 

*•  The  place  assigned  as  probable,  namely,  Astug,  is  an  impossible 
site,  for  Ziklag  after  the  Captivity  is  located  between  Beersheba  and 
Jerusalem,  and  Astug  was  at  that  time  too  far  off  for  settlement  by  re- 
turned captives. 


134  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

latter  date  Saul  and  his  eldest  son  Jonathan  died 
upon  the  battlefield. 

In  this  great  battle  the  Philistines,  as  we  have 
said,  used  bows  and  arrows,  and  in  this  respect  had 
a  great  advantage  over  the  Israelites,  who  were  not 
taught  the  use  of  this  instrument  in  war  until  after 
this  battle,  2  Sam.  1:18,  and  in  the  reign  of  David. 


THE   REIGNS   OF   DAVID   AND    OF   SOLOMON.         1 35 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE   REIGNS   OF   DAVID   AND   OF   SOLOMON. 

1.  Upon  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  the 

kingdom  of  Israel  was  ruled  by  two  king's,  David 
and  the  son  of  Saul,  Ish-bosheth,  whom  Abner,  the 
captain-general  of  Saul's  host,  had  made  king  over 
all  Israel  excepting  Judah,  which  was  loyal  to  Da- 
vid, 2  Sam.  2  : 4.  Saul's  son  reigned  only  two  years, 
when  he  was  assassinated  by  two  of  his  "  captains  of 
bands."  After  this  event  the  chief  men  of  Israel 
came  to  David,  who  was  at  Hebron,  and  entered  into 
a  league  with  him,  by  which  he  became  king  over  all 
Israel  at  the  age  of  forty  years. 

After  seven  years  of  reign  at  Hebron  he  attacked 
the  city  of  the  Jebusites,  18  miles  north  of  Hebron. 
This  place  was  known  as  Jerusalem  in  after  ages, 
although  at  that  time  called  Jebus,  i  Chron.  11:4. 
The  position  of  Jebus  was  an  exceedingly  strong  one. 

2.  From  recent  examinations,  by  shafts  and 
excavations,  the  site  of  the  Jebus  of  David's  time 
was  a  rocky  eminence,  precipitous  towards  the  east, 
south,  and  southwest,  with  access  on  other  sides  ex- 
cept for  a  short  space  on  the  north.  The  top  was 
unevenly  level,  but  only  a  part  of  this  top  seems  to 
have  been  occupied  by  the  city  of  Jebus,  the  south- 
ern  part   having   a  fortification   distinct  from   the 


136  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

walled-up  portion  on  the  north  and  northeast.  This 
part  was  taken  by  David  on  his  arrival,  and  the  re- 
maining part,  after  some  delay,  was  captured  in  a 
very  courageous  attack  by  an  officer  whose  name  was 
Joab. 

3.  The  present  circumference  of  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  is  2|  miles  very  nearly  ;  but  although 
these  walls  include  the  larger  part  of  the  hill,  there 
still  remains  a  portion,  called  Mt.  Zion,  on  the  south- 
west, which  is  not  included,  and  it  is  this  part  that 
was  captured  by  David  and  was  called  the  city  of 
David  or  Zion. 

Due  west  from  the  city  the  Mediterranean  is  36 
miles  distant  and  the  Jordan  is  18  miles  due  east. 
On  the  east  side,  in  the  time  of  David,  a  part  of  the 
city  wall  rose  nearly  100  feet  above  the  channel  of  the 
Kidron,  and  from  the  representations  of  fortified  cities 
of  these  times,  as  they  are  met  with  upon  the  tablets 
both  of  Egypt  and  of  Assyria,  the  stones  of  the  walls 
were  placed  with  great  skill.  Some  of  the  ancient 
stones  of  the  city  are  even  now  laid  upon  solid  rock 
eighty  feet  below  the  soil  at  the  base  of  the  present 
wall  on  the  east  side  and  the  southeast  corner. 

4.  The  reign  of  David  was  noted  for  success- 
ful wars  with  the  Philistines  on  the  southwest,  the 
Amalekites  on  the  south,  the  Moabites  and  Ammon- 
ites on  the  east  of  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea,  the 
Syrians  in  the  region  of  Damascus,  together  with 
a  king  on  the  north.  From  the  circumstances  nar- 
rated, this  king  must  have  been  one  of  great  wealth 


THE   REIGNS   OF   DAVID   AND   OF   SOLOMON.      1 37 

and  power  and  was  probably  a  king  of  the  Hittites, 
as  that  nation  had  at  this  period  grown  in  extent 
and  in  military  strength  and  held  large  landed  prop- 
erty near  the  Euphrates.  He  is  recorded  as  king 
of  Zobah,  a  region  not  exactly  identified,  but  very 
probably  a  district  north  of  Damascus,  between  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Mediterranean,  but  lying  east 
of  Hamath  (the  modern  Hama)  which  is  1 10  miles 
north  of  Damascus.  In  one  of  the  Assyrian  inscrip- 
tions Zobah  is  spoken  of  as  between  the  Euphrates 
and  Hamath,  which  latter  place  belonged  to  another 
king  (2  Sam.  8  : 9).  Beside  these  lands,  he  conquered 
Edom  and  placed  garrisons  there. 

5.  David  reig-uecl  from  B.  C.  1056  to  B.  C.  1015, 
or  about  forty  years  according  to  the  commonly  re- 
ceived chronology,  and  was  over  70  years  of  age  at 
his  death,  just  before  which  he  appointed  Solomon, 
his  son,  at  about  the  age  of  20,  to  succeed  him. 

The  reign  of  Solomon  was  unlike  the  two  pre- 
vious in  that  it  was  one  of  entire  rest  from  war 
until  at  the  extreme  close.  A  large  part  of  Solomon's 
reign  was  devoted  to  building  the  Temple  and  several 
palaces  and  cities,  beside  the  construction  of  a  navy 
upon  the  Red  Sea  and  the  erection  of  various  treas- 
ure cities  for  his  chariots  and  for  his  horsemen. 

6.  This  a|j;e  in  Israel  was  characterized  as  one 
of  great  wealth  and  splendor,  such  as  had  not  been 
known  before.  It  was  also  distinguished  for  the 
wisdom  of  Solomon. 

His  policy  of  peace  was  greatly  strengthened  by 


138  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

leagues  and  alliances  with  the  kings  about  him, 
chiefly  through  marriages,  after  the  custom  of  Ori- 
ental kings  at  that  day. 

The  Pharaoh  whose  daughter  he  married,  and 
for  whom  he  built  a  palace  in  Jerusalem,  came  up 
and  burned  a  city  called  Gezer  and  slew  the  Canaan- 
ites  who  dwelt  there,  giving  the  city  to  his  daughter, 
I  Kings  9  :  16. 

GEZER. 

7.  Gezer  has  recently  been  discovered,  with  a 
Hebrew  and  Greek  inscription  on  the  surface  of 
a  large  rock'  which  identifies  the  town  by  name. 
The  location  of  the  place  is  not  quite  20  miles 
west  by  north  of  Jerusalem,  and  its  position  upon 
a  high  ridge,  which  is  nearly  a  mile  long,  makes  it 
probable  that  it  was  a  formidable  town.  It  was, 
before  its  capture  by  Pharaoh,  a  standing  menace 
to  the  authority  of  Solomon,  as  it  seems  at  that  time 
to  have  been  independent.  It  is  probable  that  its 
destruction  was  instigated  by  Solomon,  who  thereby 
exhibited  the  interest  Pharaoh  had  in  him  and,  at 
the  same  time,  avoided  the  unwelcome  task  of  ex- 
posing his  own  people  to  the  casualties  of  warfare. 

8.  The  prayer  of  Solomon  at  the  beginning 
of  his  reign  was  for  wisdom  and  judgment  in  the 
execution  of  his  kingly  authority  and  in  his  govern- 
ment of  the  people.  Of  this  wisdom  he  possessed 
an  unparalleled  share.  But,  while  wise  in  the  con- 
trol of  others,  he  lost  power  over  himself  and  was 


THE   REIGNS   OF   DAVID   AND   OF   SOLOMON.      1 39 

led  into  grievous  idolatry  through  his  associations. 
This  open  worship  of  the  deities  of  the  nations 
with  whom  he  had  entered  into  league  through  his 
marriages  will  always  remain  as  a  warning  against 
the  insidious  power  of  evil  associations,  even  in  the 
case  of  the  wisest. 


I40  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   KINGDOM. 

1.  Solomon  after  a  reig-n  of  40  years*  was 

succeeded  by  his  son  Rehoboam,  who,  through  the 
adoption  of  evil  counsel,  brought  on  a  great  rebel- 
lion and  division  which  resulted  in  the  formation 
of  the  two  kingdoms — one  of  Judali,  with  its  chief 
city  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  other  of  Israel,  with  its 
capital  at  Shechem.  Jeroboam  soon  removed  to 
Tirzah,  where  the  capital,  or  royal  residence,  re- 
mained for  many  years  until  Samaria  became  the 
capital,  and  continued  to  be  so  until  the  captivity, 
I  Kings  16:23. 

TIRZAH. 

This  city  has  been  identified  with  a  village  now 
inhabited  and  which  is  called  Teiasir,  eleven  miles 
north  by  east  of  Shechem  and  twelve  miles  east- 
north-east  of  Samaria.  It  is  995  feet  above  the  Med- 
iterranean on  the  main  road  to  Beth-shean.  But  for- 
merly Tirzah  was,  by  Dr.  Robinson,  supposed  to  be 
found  in  a  village  called  Telluzah,  six  miles  due  east 
of  Samaria,  built  upon  a  hill  i  ,940  feet  above  the  Med- 
iterranean and  commanding  a  magnificent  view  east- 
ward.    This  place,  in  its  position,  well  deserves  the 

*  I  Kings  II  :42. 


THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   KINGDOM.  I4I 

name  "Tirzali,"  which  means  "beauty."  It  is  prob- 
ably referred  to  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  6:4.  It  was 
thirty-four  miles  a  little  east  of  due  north  from 
Jerusalem.  But  neither  of  these  places  can  with 
certainty  be  called  the  Tirzah  of  this  history. 

Samaria  was  private  property  at  this  time,  having 
no  settlement  upon  it  until  nearly  fifty  years  after 
the  division  of  the  kingdom,  when  it  was  bought  by 
Omri,  king  of  Israel,  from  Shemer,  and,  after  him, 
named  Samaria. 

2.  Tliere  is  a  great  chronological  difficulty 
in  adjusting  the  reigns  of  the  kings  of  Judah  and  of 
Israel. 

It  arises,  in  some  degree,  from  the  fact  that  the 
number  of  months  is  omitted  in  the  statements  of 
the  years  during  which  the  reigns  continued,  for 
the  whole  number  of  years  only  is  given.  Moreover 
the  statements  are  not  always  clear  in  relation  to 
the  epoch  from  which  the  number  given  is  to  be 
counted.  But  more  recently  collateral  history,  both 
Egyptian  and  Assyrian,  has  supplied  certain  data 
whereby  considerable  aid  has  been  furnished  in  the 
settlement  of  some  of  the  difficulties. 

Under  the  supposition  that  the  commonly  accept- 
ed chronology  is  correct  and  that  the  division  of  the 
kingdom,  at  the  death  of  Solomon,  took  place  B.  C. 
975,  the  kingdom  of  Israel  lasted  253  years  and  the 
kingdom  of  Judah  387  years,  that  is  from  B.  C.  975 
to  B.  C.  722  for  Israel  and  from  B.  C.  975  to  B.  C. 
588  for  Judah. 


142  BIBLICAL   HISTORY  AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

3.  The  captivity  of  Israel  took  place  B.  C. 
722,  at  the  taking  of  Samaria  by  Sargon,  the  general 
of  Shalmaneser.  In  the  book  of  Kings  we  have  the 
account  of  the  attack  of  Shalmaneser  upon  Samaria, 
2  Kings  17:6;  18:10.  In  the  last  passage,  the 
phrase  "  they  took  it "  appears  to  refer  to  the  fact 
that  both  Shalmaneser  and  Sargon  laid  siege  to  Sa- 
maria, for  although  the  former  began  the  siege,  he 
died  suddenly  before  the  city  was  taken,  and  Sargon, 
who  had  seized  upon  the  throne  of  Assyria,  imme- 
diately returned  and  completed  the  siege. 

Sargon 's  own  account  of  the  siege  and  of  the 
captivity  remarkably  agrees  with  the  statement  in 
the  book  of  Kings.  These  facts  are  derived  from 
the  Assyrian  tablets. 

4.  In  regard  to  this  king  of  Assyria,  Sargon 
by  name,  the  verse  in  Isaiah  20 :  i  was  for  twenty- 
five  centuries  the  only  known  evidence  of  his  ex- 
istence. It  was  not  until  recently,  when  the  mound 
which  covered  his  palace  was  excavated,  that  the 
name  came  to  view.  It  was  then  discovered  that  he 
was  one  of  the  greatest  kings  of  Assyria,  and  his 
history  was  recorded  upon  the  large  alabaster  slabs 
which  lined  a  part  of  his  palace. 

Judah  was  carried  into  captivity  B.  C.  588.  The 
whole  number  of  rulers,  from  Rehoboam  the  first 
king  to  Zedekiah  the  last,  inclusive  of  both,  was  20, 
of  which  number  there  was  one  queen,  Athaliah, 
who  reigned  six  years. 

5.  The   line  of  descent   of   the   Messiah 


THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   KINGDOM,  143 

passed  through  Judah  and  through  all  its  kings 
except  the  last  (Zedekiah),  and  the  third  and  fourth 
from  the  last,  namely,  Jehoahaz  and  Jehoiakim. 
The  kings  of  Israel  were  none  of  them  in  this  line. 
It  was  for  this  reason  that  the  tribe  of  Judah  was 
the  most  important  and  prominent  of  all  the  tribes. 

6.  The  captivity  of  Judah  took  place  under 
Nebuchadnezzar,  called  also  Nebuchadrezzar,  Ezek. 
29:19.  This  king  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
Babylon  B.  C.  604.  His  father  was  the  first  king 
of  Babylon  after  the  fall  of  Nineveh  and  death  of 
its  king  Assur-bani-pal,  the  Sardanapalus  of  the 
Greek  historians. 

7.  Immediately  after  the  fall  of  Nineveh, 
B.  C.  626,  the  father  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  Nabopo- 
lassar,  founded  the  independent  monarchy  of  Baby- 
lon, B.  C.  625,  and  at  the  death  of  Nabopolassar, 
B.  C.  604,  Nebuchadnezzar  ascended  the  throne.  He 
was  a  general  of  great  energy  and  enterprise  and 
became  so  well  known,  even  to  the  Greeks,  that 
according  to  Josephus,*  he  was  compared  with  Her- 
cules for  his  valor  and  deeds.f  The  prophet  Jere- 
miah compares  him  with  an  eagle  swooping  down 
on  his  prey,:}:  and  Ezekiel  represents  him  as  a 
great  eagle  with  great  wings.§  He  was  intrusted 
by  his  father  with  the  entire  management  of  the 
attack  upon  Nechoh,  who  had  come  up  from  Egypt 
in   battle  against   the  city  Carchemish  on  the  Eu- 

*  "Antiquities,"  IX.,  ii:i.  f  Strabo,  XV.,  i:6.  Geikie,  Vol.  V.,  p.  339. 
X  Jer.  48:40;  49:22.     g  Ezek.  17:3. 


144  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

phrates,  B.  C.  606.  This  city  was  over  five  hun- 
dred miles  northwest  from  Babylon  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  river. 

8.  Witli  a  line  army  he  attacked  Nechoh,  and 
defeated  him  with  so  dreadful  a  slaughter  that  the 
Egyptian  king  retreated  rapidly  to  the  Nile.  Neb- 
uchadnezzar followed  him  through  Palestine  to  Pe- 
lusium,  a  city  on  the  sea-coast  frontiers  of  Egypt, 
about  seventy  miles  east  of  the  Nile.  At  this  place 
he  heard  of  the  death  of  his  father,  at  Babylon, 
and  committing  the  army  and  his  prisoners  into  the 
hands  of  his  trusty  generals,  he  left  and,  with  a 
small  escort,  crossed  the  desert  and  arrived  at  Baby- 
lon, 700  miles  distant  to  the  east.  Here  he  found 
that  the  chief  of  the  priestly  caste  of  the  Chaldaeans 
had  held  the  government  for  him  since  the  death 
of  his  father.*  He  then  peaceably  succeeded  his 
father. 

9.  But  the  king-dom  of  Judah  had  not  yet 
submitted  to  Nebuchadnezzar.  He,  therefore,  after 
settling  the  new  order  of  rule  at  Babylon,  returned 
to  Syria,  B.  C.  602,  and  attacked  Jehoiakim,  king 
of  Judah,  and  placed  him  under  tribute.  Three 
years  had  not  passed  before  this  Hebrew  king,  count- 
ing on  help  from  the  king  of  Egypt,  rebelled  against 
the  king  of  Babylon,  and  dying  soon  after,  left  the 
odium  of  the  rebellion,  together  with  the  regal  suc- 
cession, to  his  son  Jehoiachin. 

*  Lenormant,  "Ancient  History  of  the  East,"  475,  in  remarkable  cor- 
roboration of2  Kings  24:7. 


THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   KINGDOM.  I45 

10.  This  king  of  Jvidali  had  reig-ned  only  three 
months  when  Nebuchadnezzar  sent  an  army  into 
Judah  and  soon  after  arrived  in  person ;  and  the  king 
of  Jtidah  was  forced  to  submit  to  the  king  of  Babylon, 
and,  with  10,000  of  his  best  citizens,  he  was  taken 
prisoner  and  carried  to  Babylon.  The  uncle  of  the 
king  of  Judah,  whose  name  was  changed  to  Zedekiah, 
that  is,  "  the  righteousness  of  Jehovah,"  was  placed 
upon  the  throne  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  His  previous 
name  was  Mattaniah,  that  is,  "  gift  of  Jehovah,"  and 
Nebuchadnezzar,  in  giving  him  this  new  name, 
evidently  intended  it  as  a  suggestion  to  the  king 
that  he  was  expected  to  sustain  the  truthful  charac- 
ter of  that  Jehovah  whom  he  professed  to  serve; 
for  the  king  of  Babylon  had  made  Zedekiah  promise 
by  oath  and  covenant,  swearing  by  his  God,  to  be 
faithful  to  him,   2  Chron.    36:  13  ;  Ezek.  17  :  13,  B.  C. 

599- 

In  the  same  manner  Pharaoh-nechoh  changed  the 
name  of  Eliakim  to  Jehoiakim,  when  he  advanced 
him  to  the  throne  eleven  years  before,  B.  C.  610. 
2  Kings  23 :  34.  He  simply  changed  the  ordinary 
name.  El,  god,  to  that  most  holy  name  of  the 
Israelites'  divinity,  namely  Jehovah. 

11.  After  eleven  years  of  reign  Zedekiah  re^ 
belled,  and  then  the  final  siege  'of  Jerusalem  took 
place,  and  the  Jews  were  forced  by  starvation  to 
yield  to  the  king.  During  the  delay  required  by  the 
siege,  Nebuchadnezzar  remained  at  a  place  called 
Riblah  (now  Ribla)  200  miles   north   of  Jerusalem 

Bllllnil  IliHtory  hiiiI  Cco-miilij-.  7 


146  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

and  70  miles  northeast  of  Beirut,  pleasantly  located 
in  the  valley  between  the  Lebanon  ranges  and  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river  Orontes.  This  place  was 
made  sadly  prominent  eighteen  years  before  by  the 
imprisonment  of  Jehoahaz,  the  successor  of  Josiah, 
king  of  Judah.  He  was  taken  captive  and  removed 
from  Jerusalem  and  left  at  this  place  by  Pharaoh- 
nechoh  when  he  was  on  his  way  to  his  terrible  defeat 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  at  Carchemish,  B.  C.  606.  But 
on  his  retreat  he  carried  Jehoahaz  to  Egypt,  where 
he  died,  2  Kings  23  :  33,  34. 

12.  When  the  generals  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
had  taken  Jerusalem,  they  brought  Zedekiah  and  the 
royal  family  to  Riblah,  where  it  appears  that  the 
king  of  Babylon  upbraided  Zedekiah  for  his  viola- 
tion of  his  oath,  and  then  slew  his  sons  before  his 
eyes.  This  was  his  last  and  dreadful  vision,  for  im- 
mediately after,  according  to  the  custom  of  these 
kings  depicted  upon  the  monuments,  "  he  put  out  the 
eyes  of  Zedekiah  and  bound  him  with  fetters  of 
brass  and  carried  him  to  Babylon,"  2  Kings  25:7. 

13.  The  king  of  Babylon  now  left  the  com- 
pletion of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  de- 
portation of  captives  to  one  of  his  chief  army  officers, 
called  "the  captain  of  the  guard."  This  officer  sent 
off  all  the  treasure  of  the  Temple  and  of  the  various 
palaces,  and  then  having  burned  the  Temple  and  all 
the  chief  houses,  he  broke  down  the  walls  and  so 
completely  destroyed  the  city  that  the  ruler,  who 
was  left  to  take  charge  of  the  few  poor  remaining. 


THE   DIVISION   OF   THE   KINGDOM.  I47 

resided  at  Mizpah,'^  a  village,  not  certainly  but  very 
probably,  identified  with  a  place  on  a  high  hill  five 
miles  west  by  north  from  Jerusalem. 

14.  Judali  was  now  finally  carried  away  cap- 
tive, and  the  seventy  years  of  captivity  foretold  by  the 
prophet  Jeremiah  (Jer.  24 :  11 ;  29 :  10)  are  to  be  reck- 
oned from  the  first  captivity,  B.  C.  606,  when  Daniel 
and  others  were  carried  to  Babylon  in  the  third  year 
of  Jehoiakim,  2  Kings  24:  i,  2.  These  seventy  years 
terminated  when  Cyrus,  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign 
at  Babylon,  B.  C.  536,  made  his  proclamation  per- 
mitting the  Jews  to  return  to  Palestine  and  rebuild 
the  temple,  Ezra  i  :  11. 

15.  About  50,000  accepted  the  invitation,  but 
a  large  number  preferred  to  remain,  as  we  shall  more 
fully  explain  hereafter. 

*  Also  spelled  Mizpeh,  the  meaning  being  watch-toiver. 


148  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

ANALYSIS  OF  THE  REIGNS  OF  JUDAH  AND  ISRAEL. 

1.  Of  the    twenty    sovereigns    of   Judah, 

Manasseh  reigned  the  longest,  namely  fifty -five 
years.  He  was  the  fourteenth  king  and  began  to 
reign  at  twelve  years  of  age,  B.  C.  698. 

The  shortest  reigns  in  Judah  were  those  of 
Jehoiachin  and  Jehoahaz,  w^ho  reigned  only  about 
three  months  each,  near  the  close  of  the  kingdom, 
B.  C.  600  and  B.  C.  610.  Both  of  these  kings  were 
deposed  by  foreign  kings. 

2.  Of  the  nineteen  sovereigns  of  Israel, 
the  one  who  continued  longest  upon  the  throne  was 
Jeroboam,  the  second  of  that  name.  His  reign  con- 
tinued forty-one  years,  from  B.  C.  825  to  B.  C.  784. 
He  was  the  thirteenth  king. 

The  shortest  reign  was  that  of  Zimri,  who  com- 
mitted suicide  by  burning  himself  in  his  palace  at 
Tirzah,  with  all  its  riches,  B.  C.  930,  when  he  found 
he  was  about  to  be  taken.  He  usurped  the  throne 
and  held  it  only  seven  days.      He  was  the  fifth  king. 

MORAL   CHARACTER   OF   THE   KINGS. 

3.  Of  the    twenty  sovereig*ns  of  Judah, 

twelve  were  continually  idolatrous.  They  seemed 
to  be  entirely  unmindful    of    the   previous  history 


THE   REIGNS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  149 

of  the  nation  and  of  the  claims  of  Jehovah  upon 
their  reverence  or  gratitude.  The  Temple  service 
seems  to  have  been  continued  by  the  priests  at 
Jerusalem,  but,  from  the  warnings  of  the  prophets, 
it  appears  that  even  the  priests  proved  faithless  and 
frequently  allowed  themselves  to  be  led  in  accord- 
ance with  the  passions  and  violence  of  the  kings, 
so  that  irreverence  and  sacrilege  were  common. 

The  treasures  of  the  Temple,  those  vessels,  orna- 
ments, and  trophies  which  were  sacred  to  its  use,  or 
placed  there  in  commemoration  of  victories  and  in 
honor  of  the  Lord,  were  repeatedly  seized  by  the 
kings  and  given  to  their  enemies,  or  used  for  private 
purposes,  and,  in  some  instances,  removed  to  give 
place  for  idolatrous  practices.  Parts  of  the  Temple 
considered  sacred  to  the  name  of  Jehovah  were 
desecrated  by  altars  built  for  the  worship  of  the 
hosts  of  heaven,  and  graven  images  were  erected 
upon  the  Temple  grounds,  in  defiance  of  the  law. 

4.  The  kin^s  themselves  frequently  gave  pub- 
lic examples  of  their  contempt  for  Jehovah  by  the 
service  and  worship  of  the  gods  of  surrounding 
nations,  by  erecting  temples  and  altars  and  by 
planting  groves  upon  high  places  and  setting  up 
images  of  Baal  and  Ashtoreth  throughout  the  land 
and  in  prominent  towns,  so  that  the  people  were 
constantly  drawn  into  idolatry  and  their  children 
made  to  dwell  in  the  presence  and  under  the  influ- 
ence of  idolatrous  emblems,  as  seen  throughout  the 
kinsfdom. 


I50  BIBLICAL   HISTORY  AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

5.  The  above  mentioned  facts  are  specially 
applicable  to  twelve  kings  out  of  the  twenty  of 
Judah,  but  the  character  of  the  reigns  of  Israel  was 
even  worse.  Of  its  nineteen  kings,  not  one  was 
free  from  idolatry.  At  the  very  beginning  of  their 
history  the  first  king,  Jeroboam,  who  had  spent 
about  five  years  in  Egypt  at  the  court  of  Shishak, 
erected  a  golden  calf  at  Bethel  and  one  at  Dan  in 
the  north,  and  invited  the  people  to  worship  at  these 
shrines  in  preference  to  the  "  house  of  the  Lord," 
the  Temple,  at  Jerusalem. 

6.  This  worship  of  the  g-olden  calf  was  a 
repetition  of  the  same  worship  which  was  performed 
500  years  before  at  Mt.  Sinai,  soon  after  the  Israel- 
ites came  out  of  Egypt,  and  Jeroboam  the  king  in 
instituting  it  repeated  the  words  which  were  uttered 
at  Mt.  Sinai,*  namely,  "  These  be  thy  gods,  O  Israel, 
which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt," 
Exod.  32:4. 

7.  The  selection  of  the  calf  was  suggested  by 
the  prominence  which  that  animal,f  as  the  symbol 
of  divine  power,  attained  in  Egypt.  The  costly 
adornment  and  preservation  of  the  sacred  living 
bull,  or  Apis,  and  the  magnificent  funeral  ceremo- 
nies and  entombment  of  the  dead  Apis  are  frequent- 
ly alluded  to  on  the  monuments  of  Egypt.  Long- 
before  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt 
the  veneration  of  the  sacred  bull  had  been  exhibited 

*  I  Kings  12:28. 

t  Under  the  title  of  Apis  ;  Greek,  Ser-apis,  for  Osiris-Apis. 


THE   REIGNS   OF   JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  151 

in  services  and  obsequies,  so  general  throughout 
Lower  Egypt,  and  so  imposing,  that  the  effect  upon 
the  population  must  have  been  far  more  solemn  and 
impressive  than  anything  we  can  conceive  of  at  the 
present  day.  The  costly  burial  places,  called  "  Sera- 
peums,"  some  of  which  yet  exist,  and  the  granite 
sarcophagi  show  beyond  any  question  how  reverent 
and  imposing  the  worship  of  the  bull  must  have  been. 

8.  Ill  the  expression  used  at  Mt.  Sinai 
and  by  Jeroboam  the  word  "gods"  has  the  force 
of  the  singular  number,  being  that  word  sometimes 
applied  to  Jehovah  and  always  used  in  the  plural 
number,  called  "  the  plural  of  excellence ;"  so  that 
while  translated  in  this  phrase  "gods,"  to  the  He- 
brew it  was  the  same  as  "  god ;"  hence  there  was  only 
one  calf -image  at  any  place. 

It  is  both  remarkable  and  memorable  that  not- 
withstandincj  the  bold  and  careless  manner  in  which 
Jeroboam's  contempt  for  the  worship  of  Jehovah 
was  exhibited,  yet  in  the  later  history  of  his  life, 
when  a  bitter  sorrow  was  coming  upon  him,  he  acted 
the  part  of  Saul  and  applied  for  help  to  the  prophet 
whose  counsel  he  had  abused.  The  results  were  the 
same  and  the  record  is  in  i  Kings  14. 

9,  It  should  be  remembered  that  while  the 
kings  and  many  of  the  people  departed  from  their 
covenanted  service  of  Jehovah,  and  the  land  was  full 
of  idolaters,  there  were,  at  all  times,  those  who  in 
the  privacies  of  their  homes  were  faithful  servants 
of  the  Most  High. 


152  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

This  fact  was  brought  out  in  the  time  of  the 
prophet  Elijah ;  for  when  the  prophet  in  his  despair 
supposed  he  was  the  only  surviving  worshipper  of 
God,  the  Lord  revealed  to  him  the  truth  that  at  that 
very  moment  there  were  7,000  in  Israel  who  had 
never  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  but  were  faithful  to 
Jehovah,  i  Kings  19: 18.  Even  in  the  household  of 
the  idolatrous  Ahab  there  was  one  who  held  so 
persistently  to  the  ancient  faith  in  Jehovah,  that, 
despite  the  cunning,  power,  and  vengeance  of  Jez- 
ebel, he  succeeded  in  hiding  and  feeding  one  hun- 
dred of  the  prophets  of  the  Lord,  probably  in  several 
caves.  This  man,  Obadiah  by  name,  was  governor 
of  Ahab's  house,  i  Kings  18:3,  and  not  the  prophet, 
who  lived  about  587  B.  C. 

10.  Frequently,  during  the  darkest  times 
of  the  two  kingdoms,  there  suddenly  appeared  an 
antecedently  unknown  messenger  of  God,  who  bore 
with  him  the  evidence  that  he  was  a  member  of  a 
reserved  force  of  faithful  ones  whose  existence  had 
never  been  published  in  the  annals  of  the  kingdom  ; 
and  these  unknown  servants  existed  in  both  king- 
doms alike,  and  were  of  both  sexes,  as  we  find  in  the 
cases  of  Huldah,  whose  knowledge  of  the  law  made 
her  worthy  of  consultation  by  the  king,  and  of  Han- 
nah before  her,  and  of  that  nameless  woman  dwell- 
ing in  the  walled  city  Abel,  who,  although  "peace- 
able and  faithful  in  Israel,"  had  power  enough  sim- 
ply by  her  wise  counsel  to  turn  back  the  fierce  army 
of  Joab,  2  Sam.  20 :  19. 


THE   REIGNS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  1 53 

ABEL. 

This  place  was  also  called  Abel-beth-maachah. 
It  was  upon  the  level  land  twelve  miles  north  by 
west  of  the  waters  of  Merom,  lake  Huleh,  and  is  now 
called  Abl.  Abel  means  "  meadow."  The  village 
is  over  i,ooo  feet  above  the  lake  Huleh  "(1,074  feet), 
and  is  a  Christian  village. 

11.  It  is,  therefore,  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  although  at  court  and  by  the  kings  the  law  of 
the  Lord  was  little  known  and  read,  it  might  yet 
have  been  thoroughly  studied  and  observed  by 
many  in  private. 


154  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE   INSTITUTION   OF   THE   PROPHETICAL   OFFICE. 

1.  But  a  most  remarkable  feature  of  the 

times  of  the   kings,   both   of  Judah  and   Israel,  ap- 
peared in  that  religious  body  called  the  Prophets. 

The  name  "  prophet "  was  originally  given  by 
God  to  Abraham,  Gen.  20 : 7,  and  seemed  to  imply 
a  familiarity  with  God,  or  that  the  one  to  whom  it 
was  applied  had  divine  authority  to  speak  for  God. 
The  prophets,  therefore,  were  not  confined  in  their 
utterances  to  a  mere  foretelling  of  events,  but,  in 
addition,  were  made  the  messengers  of  God  and 
uttered  commands  as  well  as  advice  by  his  appoint- 
ment and  in  his  stead. 

2.  They  received  divine  messages  in  several 
ways:  (i)  by  impulses,  commanding  and  influen- 
cing their  thoughts  while  awake,  as  in  the  case  of 
Elisha,  2  Kings  3:15;  (2)  by.  audible  sounds,  as  in 
the  case  of  Samuel  when  a  child,  i  Sam.  3:10,  and 
when  older  and  a  prophet,  as  recorded  in  i  Sam. 
9:15  and  in  other  passages;  (3)  and  by  visions,  or 
dreams,  as  in  the  cases  of  Isaiah,  Isa.  1:1,  Micaiah, 
I  Kings  22 :  17,  and  Daniel,  Dan.  10:  i,  7. 

3.  There  Tvas  a  class  who  were  officially  known 
as  prophets,  whose  lives  were  chiefly  devoted  to  this 
office,  and  these  were  distinguished  by  a  term  which 


THE   rROPIIETICAL   OFFICE.  155 

has  come  down  to  the  present  time  and  is  in  use 
among  the  Arabs  in  the  regions  of  Palestine  and 
Syria,  This  is  the  term"Neby"  used  by  the  na- 
tives as  a  title  of  a  sacred  person  and  associated  with 
tombs  throughout  these  lands,  and  it  is  the  same 
word  used  in  the  times  of  Abraham,  Gen.  20:7. 

4.  There  was,  however,  aiiotlier  class  of 
prophets  who  seem  to  have  been  used  for  special 
occasions  and  who  were  commissioned  for  one  pro- 
phetic act,  after  which  they  do  not  appear  again  in 
history,  2  Chron.  9:29;  i  Kings  16:1-4;  2  Chron. 
19  : 2  ;  15  : 1-8,  and  elsewhere.  These,  however,  may 
in  some  instances  have  been  chosen  from  one  of 
those  collections,  or  schools,  of  the  prophets  which 
existed  from  the  time  of  Samuel  to  a  period  several 
centuries  later,  i  Sam.  19:18,  19.  "  Naioth  "  in  this 
passage  alludes  to  the  "habitations"  in  Ramah, 
which  appear  to  have  been  "colleges"  of  the  proph- 
ets. There  were  such  colleges  or  schools  at  Bethel 
and  Jericho,  2  Kings  2:3,  5.  In  these  schools  the  law 
was  studied,  and  perhaps  psalmody,  as  we  find  that 
in  some  passages  references  are  made  to  the  instru- 
mental performances  of  the  prophets,  i  Sam.  10:5. 

5.  Of  all  the  prophets  the  utterances  of  only 
sixteen  have  come  down  to  us  in  distinct  books.  Of 
these  it  is  customary  to  speak  of  four  as  the  GREATER, 
or  major,  prophets,  and  of  twelve  as  the  minor 
prophets,  but  these  terms  have  reference  only  to 
the  extent  of  their  writings.  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Eze- 
kiel,  and  Daniel  are  included  in  the  term  major,  and 


156  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

their  prophecies,  as  written,  are  composed  in  the 
following  order,  only  as  to  the  number  of  verses 
in  each  prophecy  as  that  prophecy  appears  in  the 
English  authorized  version:  Jeremiah  (including 
Lamentations,  which  has  154  verses)  1,518  verses, 
Isaiah  1,292,  Ezekiel  1,273,  and  Daniel  357. 

6.  Of  the  minor  prophets,  the  order,  in  point 
of  number  of  verses  in  each  book,  is  as  follows : 
Zechariah  211,  Hosea  197,  Amos  146,  Micah  105, 
Joel  73,  Habakkuk  56,  Malachi  55,  Zephaniah  53, 
Jonah  48,  Nahum  47,  Haggai  38,  Obadiah  21. 

The  prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  including  Lamen- 
tations, ranks,  in  order  of  number  of  verses,  next 
after  Genesis,  which  contains  1,533  verses. 

This  analysis  of  the  books  of  the  major  prophets 
shows  not  only  their  comparative  importance,  as  to 
size,  among  the  sixteen  prophetical  books,  but  also 
among  all  the  thirty -nine  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ;  for  Genesis,  in  point  of  number  of  verses,  is 
second  only  to  the  book  of  Psalms,  and  Jeremiah's 
writings  are  the  third  in  this  order. 

7.  In  point  of  time,  there  seems  to  have  been 
an  entirely  uninterrupted  line  of  such  prophets  as 
we  have  described  from  the  age  of  Samuel  to  the 
return  from  the  captivity,  an  era  of  nearly  750  years 
(from  B.  C.  1141  to  B.  C.  397). 

Some  of  even  the  greatest  of  the  prophets,  as 
Elijah  and  Elisha,  never  committed  their  prophecies 
to  writing.  In  a  very  large  degree,  however,  their 
words  and  acts  are  recorded  in  various  histories,  as 


THE   PROPHETICAL   OFFICE.  1 5/ 

the  historian  had  need  to  make  reference  to  them  in 
explaining  certain  events  he  was  narrating  in  the 
history  of  the  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  of  Israel. 

Of  those  prophets  whose  prophecies  are  given  in 
distinct  books,  Jonah  was  the  first  mentioned  in 
point  of  time,  and  Malachi  was  the  last,  probably 
B.  C.  397. 

After  the  death  of  Malachi  the  prophetic  insti- 
tution, as  an  order,  seems  to  have  closed,  and  it  was 
so  understood  by  some  of  the  ancient  Jewish  writers, 
as  appears  in  the  apocryphal  books.* 

*  Ecclus.  .^6: 15  and  Maccabees  9:27;  14:41. 


158  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY, 


PERIOD  VI. 

THS  CAPTIVITY  OF  JUDAH  TO  THE  CLOSE  OF 
THE  CAKOHICAL  PERIOD. 

B.  c.  588-397(?). 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   VARIOUS    CAPTIVITIES. 

1.  By  the  words  "the  captivity"  is  generally 
meant  the  final  captivity  of  Judah,  which  was  the 
lavSt  of  a  series  of  captivities  both  of  Israel  and  of 
Judah.  As  a  knowledge  of  these  captivities  is  not 
only  important  in  the  study  of  Jewish  history,  but 
has  a  bearing  upon  the  authenticity  of  the  Scripture, 
they  should  all  be  carefully  distinguished.  We  there- 
fore give  a  full  list  as  follows. 

THE  VARIOUS   CAPTIVITIES. 

2.  The  first  captivity,  B.  C.  about  733,  was  that 
of  the  tribes  east  of  the  Jordan,  by  a  king  of  Assyria 
bearing  two  names  in  Scripture,  which  were  former- 
ly supposed  to  be  the  names  of  two  distinct  kings. 


THE   VARIOUS   CAPTIVITIES.  1 59 

But  a  recently  discovered  list  of  Babylonian  kings 
shows  that  the  two  names  are  those  of  the  same 
king,  and  therefore  the  reading  of  the  verse,  i  Chron. 
5  :  26,  is  correct  in  which  the  two  names  of  this  king, 
namely,  Pul  and  Tilgath-pilneser,  are  spoken  of  as 
in  the  singular  number. 

Pul  seized  the  throne  B.  C.  745,  and  died  727.* 
The  dates  in  our  marginal  references  (2  Kin.  15 :  19) 
are  too  early.  This  king  carried  away  "  the  Reuben- 
ites  and  the  Gadites  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh , 
and  brought  them  unto  Halah  and  Habor  and  Hara 
and  to  the  river  Gozan,"  i  Chron.  5:26;  see  also 
2  Kings  1 5  :  29. 

HALAH,   HABOR,    HARA,   THE   RIVER    GOZAN. 

3.  Halah  is  probably  identified  with  a  mound 
now  called  Gla,  on  the  river  Khabour,  which  is  a 
tributary  to  the  Euphrates.  It  is  about  430  miles 
northeast  of  Jerusalem  and  330  northeast  of  Babylon. 

Habor  was  probably  on  the  river  Khabour,  but 
its  site  has  not  been  identified. 

Hara  is  about  100  miles  northwest  of  Gla  and  is 
supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Haran,  to  which  Terah 
and  Abraham  migrated  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  It 
is  situated  upon  the  river  Belik,  which  runs  southward 
about  seventy  miles  and  then  joins  the  Euphrates. 

The  river  Gozan  was  probably  the  same  as  the 
Khabour,  as  the  province  of  Gozan,  through  which 

*  T.  G.  Pinches,   in"1  "  Trans.   Soc.  of  Biblical  Archaeology,"   Maj', 
1884.    Same  as  Tiglath  -pileser,  2  Kings  15:29. 


l6o  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

it  ran,  seems  to  be  identified  with  the  Gauzanitis  of 
Ptolemy.  Its  mouth  is  about  loo  miles  east  of  that 
of  the  river  Belik,  which  also  empties  into  the  Eu- 
phrates. After  the  Khabour  no  other  river  is  tribu- 
tary to  the  Euphrates  for  500  miles  of  its  course. 
The  mouth  of  the  Khabour  is  300  miles  northwest- 
of  Babylon. 

4.  The  second  captivity,  B.  C.  721.  Twenty 
years  afterward,  at  the  siege  of  Samaria,  the  As- 
syrian king  Sargon  carried  off  a  larger  and  more 
important  number.  This  king  gives  an  account  of 
this  siege,  in  remarkable  corroboration  of  the  Scrip- 
ture history,  and  states  that  he  "  carried  off  27,280  of 
its  citizens."  Nevertheless  a  large  number  remained 
in  the  region  around  and  many  fled  who  returned, 
afterward,  2  Kings  17:6. 

5.  "The  cities  of  the  Medes"  here  spoken  of 
had  been  only  recently  conquered  by  Tiglath  -  pileser. 
In  an  inscription,  towards  the  end  of  his  reign,  he 
mentions  Parthia  (parts  of  Media),  Nissea,  and  other 
places  that  paid  him  tribute.  It  was  in  736  B.  C. 
that  he  made  a  great  expedition  in  the  east,  farther 
than  any  of  his  predecessors,  reaching  the  frontiers 
of  India.  He  was  succeeded  by  Shalmaneser,  B.  C. 
727,  who  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Sargon,  B.  C. 
721,  the  year  of  the  capture  of  Samaria.*  The  war 
of  the  first  captivity  (page  158)  was  carried  on 
between  B.  C.  733-731  by  Tiglath  -  pileser,  and  it 
was  then  that  the   first  recorded  instance  occurred 

*  Lenormant  and  Chev.,  "  Ancient  History  of  the  East,"  p.  392. 


THE   VARIOUS   CArTIVITIES.  l6l 

of  the  practice  of  transplanting  the  whole  people  of 
a  conquered  country  to  places  far  distant  from  their 
native  land  and  replacing  them  by  other  captives.* 
Such  was  afterward  the  act  of  Esar-haddon  in  regard 
to  Samaria,  as  stated  in  Ezra  4: 2.  This  king  reigned 
B.  C.  68i-668.t 

The  captivity  B.  C.  721  was  the  last  captivity  in 
any  form  of  Israel,  which  is  known  as  "  the  northern 
kingdom,"  in  contradistinction  from  Judah,  "the 
southern  kingdom."      It  comprised  "the  ten  tribes." 

6.  The  third  captivity,  B.  C.  606.  Of  the  cap- 
tivities of  Judah,  the  first  happened  when  Daniel 
and  others  were  carried  off  to  Babylon,  B.  C.  606, 
2  Kings  24:2;  2  Chron.  36:6;  Dan.  i  :3,  when  but  a 
few  were  sent  to  Babylon. 

7.  The  fourth  captivity,  B.  C.  599-598.  The 
second  deportation  to  Babylon  from  Judah  was  in 
B.  C.  599-598,  when  10,000  captives  were  taken  from 
Jerusalem,  2  Kings  24: 12,  and  from  the  surrounding 
country  3,023,  Jer.  52:28.  The  king  Jehoiachin  was 
also  taken  captive. 

8.  The  fifth  and  final  captivity,  B.  C.  588.  In 
the  third  great  captivity  of  Judah  Nebuchadnezzar 
destroyed  Jerusalem  by  burning  the  Temple  and 
pulling  down  the  walls  and  the  houses. 

Perhaps  in  all  100,000  were  carried  off  at  various 
times.  While  this  number  was  comparatively  small, 
it  represented  the  very  strength  of  the  kingdom  of 
Judah,  with  which  tribe  the  promise  of  the  Messiah 

*  Lenormant,  392.  t  Idem,  604. 

Biblical  lliotory  aud  Geography.  I  I 


l62  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

alone  rested,  and  it  was  of  this  tribe  that  the  ma- 
jority of  those  who  returned  to  Palestine  were  com- 
posed. 

The  captives  of  Judah  remained  in  or  around 
Babylon  during  the  entire  term  of  their  captivity. 

9.  The  captivity  of  Maiiasseh.  In  this  con- 
nection there  is  another  captivity  merely  referred  to 
in  one  verse  in  2  Chron.  33:11.  It  is  the  captivity  of 
Manasseh  by  the  king  of  Assyria.  In  this  verse  it 
is  said  that  this  king  of  Judah  was  carried  captive  to 
Babylon,  and  for  a  time  it  was  thought  by  some 
critics  that  this  was  an  incorrect  statement,  since  the 
king  of  Assyria  was  at  Nineveh.  But  among  the 
inscriptions  at  present  in  the  British  Museum  were 
found  those  of  the  history  of  Esar-haddon,  who 
reigned  from  B.  C.  681  to  B.  C.  668.  In  this  history 
it  is  stated  that  he  went  to  Syria  and  conquered  and 
destroyed  Sidon  and  held  court  at  Damascus,  sum- 
moning twenty-two  kings  to  meet  him  there;  and 
second  among  the  names  is  that  of  "  the  king  of 
Judah."  This  was  in  the  year  B.  C.  6^2!^  It  is  re- 
corded that  he  rebuilt  Babylon,  and  we  find  that 
both  he  and  his  son  held  their  courts  and  judged 
vassal  princes  like  Manasseh  at  Babylon.f  Esar- 
haddon    gathered    men    from    Babylon   and    other 

*  Lenormant  etc.,  "  Ancient  History  of  the  East,"  p.  406.  Geikie's 
date  would  make  it  too  late,  see  authorities  in  Geikie,  V.,  p.  91.,  and  for 
the  translation  of  cylinders,  "  History  of  Esar-haddon,"  Budge,  1881, 
Boston,  Osgood  &  Co.,  p.  103. 

t  See  Ravvlinson's  "Five  Great  Monarchies,"  11.,  p.  477,  English 
Edition  ;  also  Maclear's  "  Old  Testament  History,"  p.  445. 


THE   VARIOUS   CAPTIVITIES.  163 

places    and   planted  them   in    Samaria,   and   hence 
we  have  the  account  given  us  in  Ezra  4:2,  9,  10. 

10.  Although  the  "  seventy  years "  of  captivity 
pronounced  against  Judah  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah 
(25  :  12  ;  29: 10)  are  supposed  to  begin  B.  C.  606,  yet 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  last  deportation 
of  Judah,  B.  C.  588,  closed  up  the  list  of  captivities 
both  of  Judah  and  of  Israel.  Both  communities  now- 
existed,  but,  with  small  exception,  only  as  captives 
in  Assyria  or  as  exiles  in  various  other  lands. 


164  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER    II. 
THE   COMPARATIVE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT. 

1.  As  a  people^  the  Jews  of  the  northern  king- 
dom never  were  so  warmly  attached  to  the  Temple 
worship  as  those  of  the  southern,  and  hence  all  the 
Psalms  which  alluded  to  Jerusalem*  and  the  Temple 
are  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  the  exiles  of 
Judah,  that  is  of  the  southern  kingdom,  who  went 
into  captivity  B.  C.  588  under  Nebuchadnezzar,  and 
were  settled  in  Babylon  or  its  vicinity.  For  the 
entire  seventy  years  the  people  of  Judah  and  those 
of  Israel  were  separated  by  several  hundred  miles  of 
country. 

2.  During  the  many  years  of  captivity,  Israel, 
that  is  the  ten  tribes,  probably  mingled  with  other 
nations  in  their  midst  and  became  very  largely 
estranged  from  the  father-land.  There  were  fewer 
of  the  ties  of  religious  faith  with  them  than  with 
Judah.  Even  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin, 
when  they  returned  from  the  captivity  and  entered 
into  their  city  Jerusalem  and  into  the  cities  and 
lands  surrounding,  brought  wives  from  the  heathen 
about  them,f  the  very  priests  and  Levites  being  also 

"■  Such  as  Psalms  79,  102,  126,  137,  and  others. 

t  Their  tendencies  were  idolatrous  from    the  beginning,    i   Kings 
14:15.    For  the  comparative  morality  see  p.  150. 


THE   COMPARATIVE   RELIGIOUS    SPIRIT.  165 

guilty,  Ezra  9:1,  altiiougli  the  Mosaic  law  prohibited 
such  marriages. 

3.  Such  heathen  interinarriages  among  the 
members  of  the  tribes  would,  after  185  years,  be 
less  objected  to  than  among  the  tribes  of  Judah 
and  Benjamin,  and  would  naturally  be  followed  by 
not  only  indifference  to  any  return,  but  also  by  for- 
getfulness  of  the  land  and  of  the  history  of  their 
origin,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  when  the  tribes 
of  Judah  and  Benjamin  accepted  the  permission 
granted  by  Cyrus,  the  king  of  Babylon,  to  return  to 
Palestine,  the  ten  tribes,  as  a  whole,  remained  in 
Assyria  and  never  returned,  but  probably  became 
lost  by  being  absorbed  into  the  nations  with  whom 
they  associated. 

CONDITION   DURING   THE   CAPTIVITY. 

4.  During  the  cai>tivity  the  Jews  in  Assyria 
and  Babylonia  were  allowed  great  privileges.  They 
were  considered  more  in  the  light  of  colonists  than 
of  slaves,  and  from  the  histories,  both  sacred  and 
secular,  we  learn  that,  as  stated  in  the  books  of 
Nehemiah,  Esther,  and  Daniel,  they  were  occasion- 
ally employed  in  high  positions  in  the  state  and  at 
court.  Nehemiah,  though  born  at  Babylon  during 
the  captivity,  was  a  Jew  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  but 
was  cup-bearer  to  the  Persian  king,  Artaxerxes 
Longimanus,  at  Susa.  Ezra  also  enjoyed  great  con- 
sideration at  the  Persian  court  during  the  reigns  of 
several  of  the  kino-s  of  Persia.      And  from  the  book 


l66  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

of   Esther  it   is   evident   that    the    Jews   prospered 
greatly  during  the  reign  of  Xerxes. 

5.  The  projiliets,  during  the  captivity  of  Judah, 
were  earnest  in  their  endeavors  to  preserve  the  in- 
tegrity and  reverence  of  the  people,  and  it  was 
largely  due  to  them  that  many  of  the  observances 
of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  a  loving  remembrance  of  the 
Temple  and  of  Jerusalem,  prevailed  so  far  as  it  did 
in  spite  of  the  idolatries  of  the  people  by  whom  they 
were  surrounded.  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel, 
with  Obadiah,  were  the  prophets  of  the  captivities. 

PROPHETS   DURING  THE   CAPTIVITY. 

6.  Before  the  captivity  Jeremiah*  had  fore- 
told the  captivity  of  Judah,  for  seventy  years,  in 
Babylon,  Jer.  25  : 8-12,  and  also  the  fall  of  Babylon 
(verses  13-38).  His  faithfulness  endangered  his  life, 
and  when  Nebuchadnezzar  took  Jerusalem  he  found 
Jeremiah  in  prison  and  released  him,  offering  him 
a  residence  in  Babylon.  The  prophet,  however, 
chose  to  remain  with  the  remnant  of  Judah  who 
were  not  carried  away,  and  when  this  remnant  fled 
to  Egypt,  for  fear  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  they  took 
Jeremiah  with  them.     See  the  account  in  Jer.  43  : 6. 

7.  A  recent  remarkable  discovery  has  been 
made,  in  Egypt,  of  the  palace  of  Pharaoh-hophra, 
the  Egyptian  king  who  reigned  at  the  time  Jeremiah 
was  carried  to  Egypt,  about  B.  C.  585.     The  prophet 

*  It  is  not  probable  that  he  went  to  Babylon,  but  his  prophecies 
were  taken  there,  Dan.  9:2;  Jer.  29. 


THE   COMPARATIVE    RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.  167 

protested  against  the  departure  to  Egypt  of  the 
remnant  of  which  we  have  spoken,  and  forewarned 
them  that  Nebuchadnezzar  would  go  to  Egypt  and 
would  overcome  Pharaoh-hophra  and  would  pitch 
his  tent  in  the  court  of  this  palace.  Several  clay 
cylinders  have  been  picked  up  in  the  vicinity  bear- 
ing the  name  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  proving  that 
he  had  been  here,  and  the  brick  pavement,  or  court, 
before  the  palace,  which  seems  to  be  alluded  to  in 
Jer.  43  : 9,  has  been  uncovered.  It  was  here  that  the 
prophet  hid  the  stones  at  the  place  he  foretold  as 
that  where  Nebuchadnezzar  should  set  his  pavilion. 
The  palace  was  at  Tahpanhes  (pronounced  tah'-pan- 
heez),  Jer.  43:8-i3- 

TAHPANHES. 

8.  Taliapenes,  also  written  Tahpanhes,  Jer. 
43  •  7'  9'  or  Tehaph'nehes,  Ezek.  30 :  18,  was  an  Egyp- 
tian city  on  the  east  of  the  Delta,  seventy-eight  miles 
east-northeast  from  the  present  Cairo,  and  upon  the 
most  eastern  branch  of  the  Nile.  In  1886  Mr.  Petrie 
discovered,  at  this  place,  the  palace  above  alluded 
to,  at  which  the  Pharaoh  (Hophra)  then  reigning 
probably  received  king  Zedekiah's  daughters,  to 
which  there  seems  a  reference  in  the  traditional 
name  "  Castle  of  the  Jew's  daughter."  The  place 
is  now  called  Tell  Defenneh,  but  there  exist  only 
ruins  covered  by  a  mound. 

DANIEL. 

9.  Daniel  went  into  captivity   six  or  seven 


l68  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

years  before  the  captivity  of  Ezekiel,  when  Nebu- 
chadnezzar first  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem,  B.  C.  606. 
At  this  time  the  king  of  Babylon  took  captive  Daniel 
and  his  companions,  who  were  young  and  of  noble 
families,  and  had  them  sent  to  his  palace  to  be 
educated  for  the  king's  service.  The  Assyrian  rec- 
ords show  that  it  was  a  custom  among  the  kings  to 
select  young  men  of  talent  and  educate  them  at 
royal  expense,  that  they  might  be  special  officers 
at  court.  Daniel  was  so  chosen,  with  three  others, 
and  they  were  "  taught  the  learning  and  the  tongue 
of  the  Chaldseans,"  Dan.  i  -.4.  Their  great  skill  and 
wisdom  roused  a  jealousy  among  the  princes  of  the 
court  against  the  companions  of  Daniel,  and  while 
Daniel  was  absent  on  some  commission,  or  other 
duty,  his  companions  were  condemned  to  be  burned 
alive,  but  were  delivered  by  divine  interference, 
Dan.  3. 

EZEKIEL. 

10.  The  prophet  Ezekiel  went  into  captivity 
with  Jehoiachin  king  of  Judah,  eleven  years  before 
the  final  captivity,  and  was  placed  with  a  Jewish 
company  at  the  river  Chebar,  which  may  be  the 
same  as  "The  royal  Canal,"  just  north  of  Babylon, 
and  which  was  dug  by  Nebuchadnezzar  to  unite  the 
waters  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris.  This 
prophet  was  skilled  in  the  law  and  a  faithful  priest 
and  teacher,  and  his  influence  was  great  among  the 
captives. 


THE   COMPARATIVE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.  169 

OBADIAH. 

11.  Obadiali  was  the  fourth  prophet,  whose 
prophecies  seem  to  have  been  delivered  about  B.  C. 
587,  or  during  the  captivity  of  Judah  and  soon  after 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar. 
He  appears  as  specially  commissioned  to  foretell  the 
punishment  of  the  Edomites  for  their  pride  and 
insulting  rejoicing  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  distress  of  the  Jews.  According  to  Josephus, 
this  warning  received  its  fulfilment  about  five  years 
after  the  prophecy. 

ASSYRIAN   KINGS   OF   THE    CAPTIVITY. 

13.  Of  the  kin^s  of  Assyria  and  Babylon 

during  the  captivities  the  first  mentioned  in  Scrip- 
ture is  Tiglath  -  pileser,  of  whom  and  his  successors 
we  have  already  spoken,  pages  159,  160.  These  kings 
were  active  only  in  the  captivities  of  Israel.  Nebu- 
chadnezzar was  connected  with  the  captivities  of 
Judah. 

NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 

Nebuchadnezzar  began  to  reign  B,  C.  604, 
During  his  reign  of  forty-three  years  Babylon  rose 
to  its  highest  splendor  and  remained  a  magnificent 
city  until  his  death  in  B.  C.  562.  His  madness,  spo-. 
ken  of  by  Daniel,  is  not  distinctly  stated  in  Assyrian 
history,  but  an  inscription,  now  in  the  East  India 
House  at  London,  gives  an  account  of  the  various 
works   of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  abruptly  says  that 


I/O  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

his  heart  was  hardened  against  the  Chaldaean  astrol- 
ogers. "  He  would  grant  no  benefactions  for  re- 
ligions purposes.  He  intermitted  the  worship  of 
Merodach,  and  put  an  end  to  the  sacrifice  of  victims. 
He  labored  under  the  effects  of  enchantment ^ 

This  last  sentence  seems  to  accord  with  the 
statement  of  Daniel  (chapters  1-4).  The  record  re- 
ferred to  was  found  in  the  ruins  on  the  Tigris. 

13.  The  son  and  successor  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar was  Evil-merodach,  B.  C.  561.  He  released  the 
captive  king  of  Judah,  Jehoiachin,  and  treated  him 
as  a  prince  and  with  special  favor.  His  sister's 
husband,  Neriglissar,  succeeded  him  B.  C.  559.  He 
is  mentioned  in  2  Kings  25  :27  ;  Jer.  52  :  31. 

14.  This  N'eriglissar,  or,  as  the  monuments 
present  it,  Nergal  -  Sharezer,  held  the  throne  only 
three  years,  and  was  followed  by  his  son,  a  minor, 
who  perished  in  a  conspiracy  of  the  nobles  after  a 
reign  of  only  nine  months.  One  of  these  nobles, 
Nabonidus  by  name,  ascended  the  throne  and  held 
it  till  the  city  was  captured  by  Cyrus.  It  was  his 
son,  Belshazzar,  who,  as  eldest  son,  reigned  with  his 
father  when  Babylon  was  taken,  his  father  having 
entrusted  him  with  the  care  of  the  city  while  he, 
with  the  main  part  of  the  army,  was  engaged  with 
Cyrus,  eight  miles  off  at  Borsippa. 

15.  Cyrus  did  not  assume  the  rule  of  Bab- 
ylon immediately  as  its  titular  king.  He  was  su- 
preme over  all  Asia  from  India  to  the  Bosphorus, 
but,  for  some  reason,  a   Median  prince  was  estab- 


THE   COMPARATIVE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.  I /I 

lished  for  a  time  as  nominal  king,  although  Cyrus 
retained ,  all  the  power.  That  prince  was  Darius, 
the  son  of  Cyaxares,  a  childless  man  of  sixty-two 
years  of  age.  When,  two  years  after  his  appoint- 
ment, he  died,  Cyrus  assumed  the  power  and  be- 
came king  of  Babylon.* 

-  The  discussion  of  this  matter  of  Darius  of  Dan.  5:31  may  be 
found  in  "Translations  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology,"  VI.,  pp. 
1-133;  also  in  Geikie,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  398.  , 


1/2  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   CAPTIVITY  ENDED. 

1.  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  B.  C.  536, 
Cyrus  issued  a  decree  of  liberty  to  the  Jews  to  return 
to  Jerusalem  and  rebuild  the  Temple,  Ezra  i  :  2-4. 

2.  No  more  than  43,3605  including-  children, 
could  be  persuaded  to  return.  But  in  addition  there 
were  over  7,000  male  and  female  servants.  Of  the 
priestly  clans,  only  four  out  of  twenty-four  were 
ready  to  go  out,  but  these  added  4,000.  Of  the 
Levites,  only  seventy-four  cared  to  leave  Babylon. 
This  multitude,  of  about  50,000,  set  out  as  a  caravan 
to  reach  Palestine,  many  of  them  having  to  travel 
the  whole  distance  on  foot,  as  only  8,136  animals, 
for  carriage,  accompanied  them.  The  journey  oc- 
cupied about  four  months  and  when  they  arrived 
they  found  much  of  the  land  preoccupied  by  the 
surrounding  nations. 

But,  after  much  labor  and  considerable  opposi- 
tion, the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  was  rebuilt  and,  after 
longer  delay,  the  walls  arose  from  the  ruins.  B.  C. 
516  is  the  date  of  the  second  Temple,  and  B.  C.  445 
of  the  rebuilt  walls. 

THE   NUMBER   OF   THE   JEWS   AS   A   RACE. 

3.  The  number  of  those  who  returned  to  Pal- 
estine was  small  compared  with  the  number  of  the 


THE   CAPTIVITY   ENDED.  1/3 

Jews  as  a  race  at  this  time.  During  the  reign  of 
David  a  census  of  the  nation  was  taken.  Of  this  cen- 
sus there  are  two  accounts,  one  in  2  Sam.  24 : 9,  the 
other  in  i  Chron.  21:5.  The  first  gives  800,000  as 
the  number  in  Israel,  and  500,000  in  Judah,  of  those 
"who  drew  the  sword."  In  these  statements  the 
tribes  of  both  Levi  and  Benjamin  were  omitted,  the 
former  because  they  were  not  subject  to  military 
duty,  and  the  latter  for  the  reason  stated  in  the  text, 
I  Chron.  21:6. 

4.  This  census  made  the  number  of  men  ca- 
pable of  bearing  arms  1,300,000.  It  seems  from 
I  Chron.  27 :  i  that  there  was  a  standing  army  of 
24,000,  renewed  every  month  from  Israel,  and  drawn 
from  an  established  organization  of  twelve  times 
that  number,  which  Joab,  who  took  the  census,  may 
not  have  included  in  the  number  of  the  census  of 
Israel,  2  Sam.  24 : 9,  but  which  has  been  added  by 
the  writer  of  i  Chron.  21:5.  This  increases  the 
number  by  about  300,000,  so  that  the  total  would  be 
about  1,600,000  of  both  Israel  and  Judah,  with  the 
exception  of  the  number  lost  by  a  pestilence  which 
immediately  followed  upon  the  census.  But  the 
tribes  of  Levi  and  Benjamin,  which  were  not  num- 
bered, as  we  have  shown  above,  would  fully  replace 
the  number  lost  by  the  pestilence.  Hence  at  the 
time  of  David  the  able-bodied  men  of  the  entire  na- 
tion were  about  1,600,000,  and  this  number  could  not 
have  been  materially  lessened  at  the  beginning  of  the 
captivities. 


174  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

5.  An  important  fact  connected  with  the  cap- 
tivities was  that  the  members  of  the  ablest  families, 
the  wealthiest  and  most  influential,  were  chiefly  in- 
cluded among  the  captives,  and,  in  the  case  of  Judah, 
not  only  the  most  learned,  but  the  most  devoutly  at- 
tached to  the  Mosaic  law  of  all  the  tribes,  went  into 
captivity. 

6.  What  became  of  a  larg*e  part  of  the 
Jewish  people  just  before  these  times  is  plain  from 
the  references  to  those  who  had  fled  during  the  va- 
rious wars  of  the  captivities,  or  who  might  have  been 
taken  captive  or  retired  to  other  nations  than  the 
Assyrian,  2  Kings  25  : 4,  22,  26;  2  Chron.  28:  17,  18; 
Jer.  29:4;  41  :  10.  So  that  we  may  reasonably  sup- 
pose that  large  numbers,  especially  from  the  ten 
tribes  of  Israel,  either  remained  in  Palestine  after 
the  captivity,  or  departed  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan 
or  to  Egypt,  and  perhaps  to  other  countries.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  the  people  of  Judah  who  were 
left  after  the  beginning  of  the  captivity  went  down 
as  we  have  said,  page  166,  into  Egypt,  taking  the 
prophet  Jeremiah  with  them  ;*  but  all  probably  per- 
ished there,  as  foretold  by  that  prophet,  Jer.  42  :  19-22. 

CONDITION   OF  JERUSALEM    AT   THE   RETURN. 

7.  Jerusalem  was  in  ruins.  Its  walls  were 
broken  down,  and  its  palaces  and  Temple  and  all 
the  chief  houses  and  monuments  of  every  descrip- 
tion were  levelled  and  burned  so  far  as  was  possible. 

*  Some  remained  in  Palestine. 


THE   CAPTIVITY   ENDED.  1 75 

Judging  from  the  allusions  to  the  destroyed  city 
which  are  occasionally  found  in  Jewish  writers,  and 
from  the  accounts  of  similar  destructions  by  Assyr- 
ian and  Babylonish  kings,  it  is  probable  that  the  city 
was  more  utterly  ruined  and  made  more  uninhabita- 
ble than  ever  before  or  since. 

In  the  time  of  Amaziah,  king  of  Judah,  B.  C.  826, 
the  wall  for  about  600  feet  was  broken  down  by 
Jehoash,  king  of  Israel,  2  Kings  14: 13,  but  the  des- 
truction by  Nebuchadnezzar's  >'  captain  of  the  guard  " 
was  far  more  terrible,  since  it  extended  to  the  entire 
city,  as  well  as  to  the  walls,  and  probably  to  the 
smallest  dwellings. 

THE   HISTORY   AFTER   THE   RETURN. 

8.  The  worship  at  Jerusalem  soon  became 
prominently  important  throughout  the  land.  The 
strict  observance  of  the  Law  and  a  deep  hatred  of 
idolatry  seem  fully  to  have  occupied  the  minds  of 
the  people,  and  the  feast  of  the  Passover  was  observed 
at  Jerusalem  with  the  other  feasts,  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  Law.  The  sacrifices  were  made  and 
burnt-offerings  offered  before  the  foundations  of  the 
Temple  were  laid,  only  the  altar  having  been  set  up 
upon  the  former  site  and  in  the  open  air. 

9.  Very  few,  if  any,  of  those  Jews  who  had 
been  scattered  abroad  came  from  the  remnants  of 
the  ten  tribes  around  the  distant  places  of  northern 
Assyria  and  from  the  other  regions ;  but  a  new  im- 
migration, under  Ezra,  came  from  Babylon  bringing 


176  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

in  about  6,000  more.*  This  last  immigration  was 
not  until  fifty-eight  years  after  the  second  Temple 
had  been  built  under  Zerub'babel,f  who  went  out 
with  the  Jews  from  Babylon  under  the  edict  of 
Cyrus,  at  the  first  departure  of  the  captives,  B.  C.  588. 

10.  Much  of  the  history  of  these  times 
is  derived  from  the  historian  Josephus,  but  some- 
thing may  be  learned  from  the  writings  of  the  proph- 
ets Haggai  and  Zechariah.  Haggai  encouraged  Ze- 
rubbabel  in  the  building  of  the  Temple,  Ezra  5:1,  2, 
He  first  appears  in  the  second  year  of  Darius  Hys- 
taspes,  B.  C.  521.  About  two  months:]:  after  Haggai 
the  prophet  Zechariah  began  to  prophesy  in  Jeru- 
salem. Malachi,  the  last  of  the  prophets,  uttered  his 
warnings  and  reproofs,  and  foretold  the  coming 
Messiah,  about  125  years  after  Haggai  and  Zechariah, 
or  probably  about  B.  C.  397. 

11.  One  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  contains  the 
history  of  Esther,  which  reveals  to  us  the  extent  of 
Jewish  settlement  and  growth  in  the  Persian  provin- 
ces at  about  the  era  of  Xerxes,  who  came  to  the 
throne  of  Persia  B.  C.  485,  fifty  years  after  the  re- 
turn of  the  Jews  to  Palestine. § 

Cyrus  had  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Cambyses, 
whose  reign  was  spent  chiefly  in  attempting  to  re- 
conquer Egypt,  until  his  death  by  suicide,  B.  C.  522. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Darius,  who  reigned  till  B.  C. 

*  "  Old  Testament  History,"  Maclear,  p.  476.     Ezra  8. 
t  According  to  Ussher. 
J  Zech.  I :  i. 
.  g  "The  Book  of  Esther/'  by  Haley,  Andover,  1S85. 


THE   CAPTIVITY   ENDED.  1/7 

486,  and  during  that  reign  the  Jews  had  peace  and 
prosperity,  both  in  Palestine  and  Persia. 

At  the  death  of  Darius,  Xerxes  began  his  reign 
of  twenty-one  years.  This  king,  known  as  Xerxes 
among  the  Greeks,  was  called  Ahasuerus  among 
the  Hebrews,  and  is  so  presented  to  us  in  the  book 
of  Esther. 

13.  The  king  was  spending  his  time  at  his 
splendid  capital  Susa,  when  he  gave  a  feast  of  un- 
exampled extravagance.  It  was  at  this  feast  that 
he  became  enraged  at  his  queen  because  she  refused 
to  present  herself,  at  the  order  of  the  king,  before 
the  half-drunken  revellers  of  the  occasion.  The 
queen  was  deposed,  and  Esther  was  chosen  in  her 
place.  The  new  queen  was  an  orphan  maiden  of 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  and,  about  B.  C.  478,  she  ap- 
peared before  the  king  and  the  royal  crown  was 
placed  upon  her  head. 

Through  jealousy  a  plot  was  originated  by  Ha- 
mau  to  destroy  the  Jews.  This  plot  was  prevented 
by  Esther,  and  the  Jews  were  permitted  to  defend 
themselves  and  slay  all  who  should  attempt  their 
destruction,  throughout  the  "  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-seven provinces"  of  the  Empire. 

13.  The  recent  explorations,  by  the  French 
archaeologist  M.  Marcel  Dieulafoy,  in  the  extensive 
mounds  of  the  site  of  ancient  Susa,  have  shown  a 
very  surprising  accuracy  in  the  description,  both  of 
the  palace  and  its  ornaments,  as  found  in  the  book 
of  Esther.     "The  brilliant  coloring  of  the  glazed 

Biblical  Hi8tor,v>ii(l  Ocosi«i)lij-.  8* 


178  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

tiles,  the  gorgeous  decoration  of  the  palace  walls, 
the  handsome  friezes  and  enormous  capitals,"  *  form- 
ing part  of  the  collection  brought  together  at  the 
Mus^e  du  Louvre,  together  with  the  plan  of  the 
palace,  its  courts  and  gardens,  afford  sufficient  evi- 
dence that  the  unknown  author  of  the  history  of 
Esther  must  have  been  well  acquainted  not  only 
with  the  structure  of  the  palace,  but  with  the  cus- 
toms of  the  people. 

SUSA. 

14.  Susa  was  the  Greek  name  of  the  place 
called  Shushan  in  Neh.  1:1,  and  frequently  so  in  the 
book  of  Esther.f  It  has  been  identified  with  exten- 
sive ruins  175  miles  north  of  the  Persian  Gulf  and 
275  miles  east  of  Babylon.  One  of  the  mounds 
shows  the  remains  of  a  vast  palace  with  one  cen- 
tral hall  containing  thirty-six  columns  about  six- 
ty feet  in  height.  Other  halls  and  columns  with 
porches  make  it  certain  that  this  is  the  palace  called 
so  frequently  "  Shushan  the  palace "  in  the  history 
of  Esther.  It  was  the  capital  of  Elam,  the  country 
around  being  called  Susiana.  It  was  an  ancient  city 
and  was  captured  by  the  Assyrian  king  Assur-bani- 
pal  about  B.  C.  650.  When  the  father  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, Nabopolassar  king  of  Babylon,  and  Cyaxares 

*  Full  description  by  Dr.  M.  Jastrowjr.,  "  Sunday-school  Times," 
Philadelphia,  November  17,  1888. 

t  For  the  critical  account,  see  "  The  Book  of  Esther,"  by  Haley, 
Andover,  1885.  More  recently,"  Harper's  Monthly,"  June,  1887.  "Revue 
des  Etudes  Juives,"  Avril— Juin,  1888.  "Sunday-school  Times."  Novem- 
ber 17, 1888. 


THE   CAPTIVITY   ENDED.  1 79 

king  of  Media,  conquered  Nineveh  and  divided  the 
empire  between  them,  Shushan  fell  to  Babylon.  The 
wealth  of  the  city  may  be  known  from  the  fact  that 
at  the  Macedonian  conquest  of  this  region  Alexan- 
der found  treasure  here  of  the  value  of  $60,000,000. 
It  is  situated  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Shapur  Riv- 
er, which  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  Ulai  (pro- 
nounced u'  -  la  -  i)  of  the  book  of  Daniel,  Dan.  8:1,2,27. 

15.  It  was  ill  the  palace  in  Susa  that  Nehe- 
miah  held  the  office  of  cup-bearer  to  the  Persian 
king  Artaxerxes,  B.  C.  446,  thirty-two  years  after 
Esther  was  crowned,  B.  C.  478. 

16.  It  is  shown  hy  this  history  that  the  Jews, 
fifty-eight  years  after  their  freedom  was  granted 
them,  B.  C.  536  to  B.  C.  478,  had  already  spread  over 
the  provinces  of  Persia.  The  extent  of  these  prov- 
inces was  such,  according  to  Rawlinson,  that  Persia 
deserved  the  title  of  a  mighty  empire,*  having  in 
the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  before  the  Christian 
era  "  established  itself  on  the  ruins  of  the  Assyrian 
and  Babylonian  kingdoms," 

The  monotheistic  nature  of  the  religion  of  the 
Persians,  and  the  fact  that  it  allowed  no  idolatry  nor 
any  representation  of  the  Supreme  Being  under  any 
material  form,t  rendered  the  Jewish  settlement  far 
less  objectionable  in  Persia  than  in  any  other  land, 
and  it  is,  therefore,  not  improbable  that  the  Jewish 
population  was  greater  in  the  Persian  Empire  alone 

*  Geo.  Rawlinson,  "The  Religions  of  the  Ancient  World,"  p.  79. 
t  Idem,  p.  86;  the  utmost  that  was  allowed  was  the  emblem  of  the 
winged  circle. 


I  So  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

than  it  was  at  the  same  period  in  Palestine  after  the 
return  from  Babylon. 

The  population  of  Susa  in  the  time  of  Xerxes  is 
supposed  to  have  been  about  "  a  half  a  million."  * 

17.  As  tlie  recently  discovered  nioim- 
meiits  have,  in  several  instances,  enabled  us  to 
correct  the  errors  of  the  Greek  writers  of  this  age, 
we  have  given  a  complete  view  of  the  Persian  suc- 
cessions from  Cyrus  to  Alexander  the'Great.f 

Cyrus,  B.  C.  538.  Captured  Babylon.  The 
Persian  army  entered  Babylonia  from  the  south. 
June  1 6  the  Persian  general  Gobryas  marched  in. 
In  October  Cyrus  himself  entered  his  new  capital. 

B.  C.  536.  The  proclamation  to  the  Jews,  end- 
ing captivity. 

B.  C.  529.     Death  of  Cyrus. 

Cambyses,  B.  C.  529,  Invaded  and  conquered 
Egypt ;  entered  Ethiopia — Oasis  of  Ammon  ;  com- 
mitted suicide  after  eight  years'  reign  alone,  two 
years  having  been  with  Cyrus.  Gomates,  a  Ma- 
gian,  usurped  the  throne  for  less  than  a  year,  from 
six  to  eight  months. 

Darius  I.,  B.  C.  521.  Son  of  Hystaspes.  Slew 
Gomates.  Zoroastrianism  declared  the  religion  of 
the  empire.  Susa  revolted  and  Babylon  also ;  the 
former  soon   subdued,   but    Babylon    required  two 

*  Keil's  "  Comments  on  Esther,"  p.  309,  "  Book  of  Esther,"  Haley, 
p.  81. 

t  Chiefly  on  the  authority  of  A.  H.  Sayce,  "The  Ancient  Empires 
of  the  East." 


THE   CAPTIVITY   ENDED.  l8l 

years,  the  Persians  entering-  during  a  festival  by 
marching  along  the  dry  channel  of  the  Euphrates. 
Herodotus  errs  in  attributing  this  work  to  Cyrus. 
The  city  was  taken  B,  C.  519,  in  June.  Eight  con- 
secutive revolts.  Darius  conquered  all  and  central- 
ized the  empire  in  himself.  He  conquered  the  Pun- 
jab (India).  The  Thracian  coast  and  Macedonia  be- 
came tributary.  Darius  died  in  the  63d  year  of 
his  age,  36th  of  his  reign,  B.  C.  486. 

Xerxes,  B.  C.  486.  Attempted  to  continue 
the  war  with  Athens.  Lost  his  army,  lost  the  ^gean 
isles,  the  Greek  colonies  of  Asia  Minor,  the  coast  of 
Thrace,  and  the  command  of  the  Hellespont.  Before 
this  campaign  he  burned  the  temple  of  Belus  in 
Babylon.  He  was  murdered  B.  C.  466.  He  invaded 
Egypt  B.  C.  484.  It  was  during  this  reign  that 
Esther  became  queen. 

Artaxerxes  I.,  B.  C.  466.  Longimanus,  so 
called  from  his  long  hands.  Succeeded  after  crush- 
ing the  Bactrians  under  Hystaspes  and  murdering 
another  brother.  B.  C.  455  put  down  a  revolt  in 
Egypt.  B.  C.  449  treaty  of  peace  between  Athens  and 
Persia  in  which  the  Greek  colonies  in  Asia  Minor 
were  relinquished.  A  satrap  of  Syria  extorted  terms 
of  peace.  It  was  during  this  reign  that  Nehemiah 
was  cup-bearer  to  the  king  at  Susa,  called  Shushan. 

Xerxes  II.,  B.  C.  435.  Assassinated,  after 
forty-five  days'  reign,  by  his  illegitimate  brother  Sog- 
dianus,  and  he  in  turn  by  Ochus  after  six  months. 
He  took  the  name  of  Darius. 


1 82  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Darius  II.,  B.  C.  434.  Called  Nothus.  His 
reign  a  series  of  revolts  for  nineteen  years.  He  lost 
Egypt,  but  by  the  destruction  of  the  Athenian  power 
regained  the  Greek  colonies  of  Asia  Minor. 

Artaxerxes  II.,  B.  C.  405.  Called  Mnemon 
from  his  great  memory.  His  younger  brother,  who 
was  satrap  in  Asia  Minor,  revolted  and  with  ii3,ocx) 
soldiers,  13,000  of  whom  were  Greeks  under  Xeno- 
phon,  fought  for  the  Persian  throne,  but  lost  his  life 
at  Cunaxa,  and  the  retreat  of  the  Greeks  under 
Xenophon  became  one  of  the  great  feats  of  history. 
Sparta's  forces,  however,  made  themselves  masters 
of  Western  Asia  B.  C.  399-395,  but  it  was  restored 
through  Persian  gold  and  dissension  at  home.     Died 

B.  C.  359- 

Oclivis,  B,  C.  359.  He  destroyed  all  the  other 
princes  of  the  royal  family.  He  failed  at  first  to  re- 
cover Egypt  and  lost  Phoenicia  and  Cyprus,  but  his 
general  Bagoas  reconquered  Egypt  and  destroyed 
Sidon,  and  for  six  years  there  was  peace  until  B.  C. 
338,  when  Ochus  was  poisoned. 

Arses,  B.  C.  338.  Was  raised  to  the  throne  by 
Bagoas  after  murdering  all  his  brothers.  Two  years 
after,  Arses  and  his  children  were  murdered  and 
Bagoas  placed  the  crown  on  the  head  of  Codoman- 
nus,  who  took  the  name  of  Darius  III. 

Darius  III.,  B.  C.  336.  Called  Codomannus. 
B.  C.  334  his  army  was  defeated  by  Alexander  the 
Great  at  the  plain  of  Issus,  near  the  northeast  corner 
of  the  Mediterranean. 


THE   CAPTIVITY   ENDED.  183 

Alexander.  Alexander  then  passed  on  to  Tyre 
and  besieged  and  captured  it.  After  this  he  visited 
Jerusalem  during  the  high-priesthood  of  Jaddua  and 
did  honor  to  the  city  and  Temple.* 

Alexandria  built  B.  C.  332.  He  then  cap- 
tured Gaza  and  entered  Egypt  and  the  Oasis  of 
Ammon.  He  returned  to  Babylonia,  and  B.  C.  331 
at  Gaugamela,  ten  miles  east  of  Nineveh,  defeated 
Darius,  who  fled  and  was  murdered.  The  Persian 
Empire  fell  now  to  Alexander. 

*  According  to  Josephus. 


1 84  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

THE  CANONICAL  BOOKS.   SAMARITAN  PENTATEUCH. 

1.  The  word  "  Canon  "  is  a  Greek  word  and 
means  a  "  measure,"  or  "  rule."  It  was  first  used  in 
the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era  to  designate 
the  authorized  books  of  the  Bible. 

But  the  question  arises,  By  whom  were  these 
books  determined  ?     The  history  is  as  follows. 

2.  During*  the  captivity  of  Judah  a  spirit 
of  reverence  for  the  Law  arose,  and  after  they  came 
back  to  Palestine  it  was  cherished  to  an  extent 
never  before  known. 

3.  At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  Jews  had 
a  period  existed  when  a  true  Canon  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tement  writings  could  better  have  been  formed.  The 
large  number  of  learned  and  devout  men  who  were 
found  by  Ezra  competent  to  explain  the  Scriptures, 
as  recorded  by  Nehemiah,  chapters  eight  and  nine, 
proves  that  the  study  of  the  Law  had  not  been  neg- 
lected during  the  captivity ;  and,  as  we  know,  several 
of  the  prophets  uttered  their  prophecies  to  the  na- 
tion not  long  before,  as  well  as  soon  after,  the  return. 

4  The  tradition  seems  to  be  well  sustained 
that  this  was  the  era  when  more  careful  attention 
was  paid  to  the  "  collecting,  authenticating,  and  de- 
fininsf  the   canonical   books   of   the    Old  Testement 


THE   CANONICAL   BOOKS.  185 

and  in  multiplying  copies  of  them,  by  careful  tran- 
scription,"* than  ever  before  or  since. 

5.  The  traditions  of  the  various  sects  had 

not  yet  distracted  attention  from  that  which  was 
more  trustworthy  in  Jewish  history  and  in  the 
clearer  and  more  certain  deliverances  of  their  an- 
cient seers  and  prophets. 

6.  We  must  now  remember  that  all  the 
books,  except  the  Mosaic  books  of  the  Pentateuch, 
were  in  separate  manuscripts.  Those  which  Ezra 
had  were  either  copies  of  those  which  had  escaped 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  or  they  were  the  orig- 
inal manuscripts  themselves. 

7.  That  some  manuscripts  did  escape  that 
destruction  is  evident  from  the  words  of  Daniel 
(9:2),  by  which  we  see  that  he,  while  in  Babylon, 
was  in  possession  of  the  writings  of  Jeremiah  and 
of  other  books  "  and  of  the  Law  of  Moses  the  servant 
of  God,"  verses  ii,  13,  seventeen  years  before  the 
close  of  the  captivity,  namely  B.  C.  553. 

But  even  without  any  definite  statement  as  to  the 
actual  existence  of  the  manuscripts  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament books,  it  is  incredible  that  with  all  their  devo- 
tion to  the  Law  there  should  have  been  no  copies  in 
the  possession  of  any  one.  When  we  remember  their 
intense  regard  for  their  ancient  history  and  for  the 
songs  of  Zion ;  and  when  we  consider  the  reveren- 
tial learning  and  ability  of  such  men  as  Ezra,  Nehe- 

*  "Introduction   to   Hebrew   Literature,"  J.   VV.    Etheridge,  M.  A., 
London,  i8j6,  p.  20. 


l86  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

miah,  Zechariah,  Haggai,  Malachi  and  others,  it  is 
not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  there  should  have 
been  no  copies  of  the  sacred  books  extant  at  the 
time  of  the  return. 

8.  Ezra  was  not  only  skilled  in  the  He- 
brew, but  also  in  the  Chaldee,  called  Aramaic.  He 
was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  literature  of  the 
Jewish  nation  and  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
his  office  as  priest  and  scribe.  And  Ezra  was  not 
alone  in  this  respect. 

9.  It  was  in  his  time,  as  the  Jewish  writings 
tell  us,  that  able  and  devout  men  among  the  Jews, 
called  elders,  were  assembled  under  Ezra's  direction 
with  the  purpose  of  forming  a  body  sometimes  called 
the  Great  Council  or  Synagogue. 

These  elders,  with  Ezra  and  probably  Nehemiah, 
the  prophets  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  years  after- 
ward Malachi,  continued  to  meet  through  many 
years,  some  of  the  most  learned  and  devout  taking 
the  places  of  those  who  died,  until  the  death  of  one 
"  Simon  the  Just,"  about  B.  C.  300,*  when  this  coim- 
cil  was  apparently  resolved  into  that  court  of  the 
Jews  called  the  "  Sanhedrin."  Jewish  tradition  as- 
serts that  the  entire  number  of  the  Great  Synagogue 
was  one  hundred  and  twenty,  during  about  as  many 
years. 

10.  This  body  of  "The  Great  Synag-og-ue" 
determined  the  number  of  the  books. 

*  B.  C.  291,  Maclear's  "New  Testament  History,"  p.  ii;  and  B.  C. 
310-290,  Westcott's  "  Bible  in  the  Church,"  p.  300. 


THE   CANONICAL   BOOKS.  18/ 

A  letter  to  some  of  the  Jews  in  Egypt  after  the 
Temple  was  built  states  that  Nehemiah  had  already 
collected  "  a  library  "  in  the  Temple. 

In  this  account  it  is  said  that  Nehemiah,  while 
founding  a  library,  gathered  together  the  writings 
concerning  the  kings  and  prophets,  and  the  writings 
of  David,  and  letters  of  kings  about  offerings.*  But 
the  chief  object  was  to  collect  those  writings  which 
were  not  only  ancient  and  were  copies  of  the  ancient 
history,  but  those  which  had  to  do  with  the  relations 
of  God  to  the  people  and  their  duties  towards  God. 

11.  From  many  allusions  to  these  times  it  is 
evident  that  there  never  was  a  period  when  the  peo- 
ple were  so  willing,  and  even  earnestly  desirous,  to 
learn  and  obey  whatever  was  duty.f 

What  was  now  wanted  by  the  whole  Jewish  peo- 
ple was  such  a  collection  from  all  their  literature 
that  it  should  be  well  authenticated  and  trustworthy 
as  history,  and  at  the  same  time  authoritative  as  a 
guide  and  as  a  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

13.  From  what  we  have  now  said,  it  is 
evident  that  no  one  was  more  competent  for  the 
work  of  gathering  these  records  than  were  Ezra  and 
his  associates,  and  the  Jewish  records  assert  that  he, 
with  Nehemiah  and  others,  performed  this  work  of 

*  Mace.  2:13. 

t  For  proofs  of  spiritual  activity  of  this  period,  B.  C.  536,  read  Ezra 
6: 16-22.  That  they  had  the  prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah  with  them, 
read  6:14.  That  they  were  ready  to  worship  God  anywhere  before 
they  had  a  temple,  3:1-6.  That  they  called  Ezra  and  caused  him  to 
read  and  explain  the  Law  to  them,  Neh.  8:1,  etc. 


1 88  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

gathering  and  selecting,  and  thus  forming  that  col- 
lection of  the  ancient  writings  which  not  only  he, 
but  those  of  this  the  most  learned  and  devout  age, 
considered  to  be  truthful,  and,  as  Josephus  says, 
"directions  of  God,"  or  as  Eusebius  quoted  him, 
"justly  considered  divine." 

13.  When  these  ^vritiiigs  were  g-athered 
and  pronounced  to  be  the  books  which,  Josephus 
says,  were  those  "comprising  a  record  of  all  time 
and  justly  confided  in,"  as  he  declares,  "  no  one  ever 
after  ventured  to  add  anything  to  them,  nor  take 
away  from  them,  nor  alter  them."*  The  Old  Testa- 
ment was  now  formed  and  settled  and  the  Canonical 
period  was  closed. 

THE   INSTITUTION   OF   THE   SYNAGOGUE. 

14.  The  meaning'  of  the  word  synagogue 

is  simply  "  a  gathering  together,"  but  the  name 
became,  in  after  years,  a  term  for  the  place  and 
building  where  the  Jews  gathered  for  worship,  and 
this  meaning  continues  to  the  present  day. 

15.  After  the  exile  began,  the  Jews,  having 
no  temple  in  Babylonia,  may  have  had  meeting- 
places,  but  the  synagogue,  as  it  existed  in  the  time 
of  our  Saviour  and  since,  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  instituted  till  long  after  the  return  from  the 
captivity. 

*  Jos.,  Contra  Apion,  lib.  I.,  8.  Eiiseb.,  "  Eccl.  History,"  lib.  III.,  chap, 
lo.  Josephus  lived  in  the  time  of  the  apostles.  He  was  born  A.  D.  t,-j 
and  died  after  A.  D.  97  and  made  this  statement  400  years  after  the 
Canon,  or  list,  had  been  closed. 


THE   CANONICAL   BOOKS.  1 89 

16.  Immecliately  after   the    captivity  the 

synagogue  became  fully  organized  as  a  place  where 
the  Jews  gathered  to  read  the  law,  and  have  it  read 
and  explained  in  the  language  of  the  people ;  for 
during  the  captivity  the  ancient  pure  Hebrew  was 
to  a  great  extent  forgotten  among  the  common  peo- 
ple, and  the  Chaldaean  language,  which  was  that  of 
their  conquerors,  was  adopted.  This  language  was 
unlike  the  ancient  Hebrew,  and  was  called  the 
Aramaean  or  Aramaic,  and  after  the  captivity,  at 
the  synagogues,  there  were  always  present  some 
who  were  able  to  read  and  explain  the  books  of  the 
law  in  both  dialects,*  Neh.  8 : 8.  Although  the  insti- 
tution of  the  synagogue,  simply  as  such  a  gathering 
as  we  have  just  mentioned,  took  place  before  the 
second  Temple  was  finished,  it  was  continued  ever 
afterward. 

17.  The  distinctive  purpose  of  the  Tem- 
ple was  for  the  offering  of  the  sacrifices,  and  that  of 
the  synagogues  was  for  prayer  and  hearing  the 
Scriptures.  In  later  times,  just  before  and  after 
the  Christian  era,  it  became  in  addition  a  place  for 
the  meeting  of  Jewish  courts,  and  not  only  was  sen- 
tence pronounced  in  these  courts,  but  punishment 
followed  upon  sentence  immediately.  Hence  we 
read  that  scourging  might,  at  some  time,  be  inflicted 
there.     See  Matt.  lo:  17;  Mark  13:9,  and  elsewhere. 

*  These  men  gave  rise  to  a  class  of  writings  called  "  Interpreta- 
tions," or  in  their  language  Targnins,  which  are  also  explanations 
as  well  as  interpretations,  and  give  the  ideas  of  the  earliest  writers 
upon  Scripture. 


1 90  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

WHO   WERE   THE   SAMARITANS? 

18.  When   the   ten   tribes  were    carried 

away  captive  by  Sargon,  B.  C.  721,  other  nations 
were  transferred  from  the  region  to  which  these  cap- 
tives were  taken,  according  to  the  custom  which  we 
have  mentioned  (pages  160  and  161).  A  large  num- 
ber of  other  captives  from  other  lands  were  import- 
ed to  Samaria,  the  former  capital  and  region  of  the 
ten  tribes.  Many  of  these  imported  heathen  cap- 
tives joined  with  the  remnant  of  the  Israelites  still 
remaining  after  the  captivity,  and  made  up  a  mixed 
worship  of  Jehovah  as  taught  by  one  of  the  priests, 
2  Kings  17 :  34.  This  priest,  at  their  request,  the  king 
of  Assyria  returned  to  them,  to  teach  them  the  Jew- 
ish way  of  worship,  2  Kings  17:27.  This  state  of 
things  continued  in  Samaria  until  after  the  return 
of  Judah  from  the  captivity. 

When  the  Jews  undertook  to  rebuild  the  Temple 
under  Zerubbabel,  these  Samaritans  made  applica- 
tion to  join  them  in  that  work  and  were  refused. 
The  refusal  aroused  their  enmity  and  active  oppo- 
sition, which  was  greatly  increased  in  after  times,  as 
we  shall  see. 

SHECHEM   AND   SAMARIA. 

19.  Shechem  was  thirty  miles  north  from 
Jerusalem  and  five  miles  southeast  from  the  city  of 
Samaria.  The  district  of  Samaria  must  be  distin- 
guished from  the  city  of  Samaria ;  the  latter  having 


THE  CANONICAL   BOOKS.  I9I 

been  the  residence  of  the  kings  of  Israel,  or  of 
the  northern  kingdom,  for  many  years.  At  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great  the  Samaritans  were 
expelled  from  this  city  because  of  a  mutiny  against 
one  of  his  appointed  governors  of  Syria  ;  but  a  rem- 
nant was  permitted  to  occupy  Shechem,*  where  they 
have  dwindled  down  to  the  present  day. 

THE   SAMARITAN   PENTATEUCH. 

20.  One  very  ancient  copy  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, or  first  five  books,  called  the  Law  of  Moses, 
remains  among  this  remnant  of  the  Samaritans,  at 
Shechem  in  Palestine.  It  is  written  in  the  ancient 
Hebrew  letters  used  before  the  captivity,  and  this 
particular  copy  is  the  oldest  in  the  world,  so  far  as 
is  at  present  known. 

It  is  written  in  the  pure  old  Hebrew  language, 
but  contains  only  the  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament in  one  single  roll.  It  is  called  the  Samar- 
itan, only  because  it  is  owned  by  the  Samaritans 
and  has  been  in  their  possession  from  a  period  sev- 
eral centuries  before  the  Christian  era  down  to  the 
present  time.f 

21.  It  has  been  proven  that  during  and  after 
the  captivity  all  the  writings  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
especially  the  books  of  Moses,  were  transcribed  only 
into  the  square  forms  of  Hebrew  letters  which  are 

*  Prideaux,  Part  I.,  Book  5. 

t  What  is  called  the  Samaritan  translation  is  a  translation  of  this 
Pentateuch  into  the  Samaritan  language  and  is  not  the  Samaritan 
Pentateuch. 


192  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

now  used  in  all  our  Hebrew  Bibles.'^  It  seems  highly 
probable  therefore  that  this  Samaritan  manuscript 
has  been  in  existence  ever  since  the  time  when,  at 
the  request  of  the  Samaritans,  the  Assyrian  king 
sent  back  a  priest  (page  190)  to  teach  them,  and  "he 
taught  them  the  fear  of  the  Lord,"  2  Kings  17:28, 
B.  C.  720. 

32.  But  it  is  proper  liere  to  state  that  this 
manuscript  is  thought,  by  some,  to  owe  its  origin  to 
the  time  when  Nehemiah  expelled  from  Jerusalem 
the  grandson  of  the  high-priest,  Manasseh  by  name, 
because  he  had  married  the  daughter  of  Sanballat, 
their  Samaritan  enemy.  This  expulsion  of  Manas- 
seh took  place  B.  C.  434  (according  to  Ussher).  After 
this  Sanballat  built  a  Samaritan  temple  on  Mt.  Ger- 
izim  and  made  IManasseh  high-priest.f  The  enmity 
already  existing  between  the  Jews  and  the  Samar- 
itans was  made  more  bitter  by  this  act,  and  it  con- 
tinued ever  after. 

23.  But  altliouo*h  the  Samaritans  at  some 
time  must  have  obtained  their  copy  of  the  Law  of 
Moses  from  the  Jews,  as  the  latter  say,  yet  it  is  not 
probable  that  this  copy  of  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch 
was  obtained  from  them  after  this  enmity  sprang 
up,   and,   moreover,    because   it  is  written   in  those 

*  The  proofs  of  the  use  of  the  square  Hebrew  since  Ezra  are  found 
given  in  Conder's  "  Handbook  to  the  Bible  "  (Geniara,  Sanhedrin,  f.  21, 
22),  p.  174.  "  Home's  Introd."  IL,  p.  12-17  for  the  versions  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch (Samaritan),  Smitli's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  Vol.  III. 

t  In  the  time  of  Darius  Nothus,  B.C.  409,  so  Prideaux  says,  "Con- 
nection," Vol.  I.,  pp.  357-359- 


THE   CANONICAL   BOOKS.  I93 

letters  in  which  Ezra  did  not  write  the  law  after  the 
captivity.  If  it  was  written  before,  then  there  is  at 
least  one  manuscript  copy  which  escaped  the  mis- 
fortunes of  the  captivity  and  has  come  down  to  the 
present  day. 

34.  This  manuscript  lias  been  mentioned 
by  several  of  the  early  fathers  of  the  third  century 
and  has  been  copied  several  times  during  the  past 
three  centuries.  With  the  exception  of  some  dates, 
the  variations  from  the  present  Hebrew  copies  are 
unimportant. 


BHilicfil  nifitory  nwl  Ooo-inphy. 


194  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER    V. 

WHAT   WAS   SCRIPTURE?      THE   SEPTUAGINT. 

1.  Tlie  first  five  books,  called  the  books  of 
Moses,  seem  always  to  have  existed  in  one  roll,  and 
these  constituted  "The  Law,"  and  were  the  only 
Scriptures  read  in  the  synagogues  until  the  time  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  B.  C.  i68,*  who  bitterly  perse- 
cuted the  Jews  and  forbade  the  use  of  the  Law  in 
the  synagogues.  During  the  time  of  this  prohibi- 
tion, only  the  Prophets  were  read,  in  the  place  of  the 
Law,  but  when  the  persecution  ceased  the  Jews  be- 
gan the  reading  of  the  Law  again,  but  continued  the 
reading  of  the  prophets.f 

2.  In  order  that  the  Pentateuch  should  be 
read  through  in  one  year,  the  entire  work  was  divi- 
ded into  fifty-four  sections,:}:  so  as  to  supply  a  por- 
tion for  each  Sabbath. §  These  divisions  were  made 
long  before  the  time  of  the  persecution  just  referred 

*  This  is  the  date  of  his  visit  to  Jerusalem  and  profanation  of  the 
Temple.     Clinton  in  Woodward  and  Cates. 

t  Prideaux,  Part  IL,  Book  3. 

X  In  Babylon,  but  formerly  in  Palestine  into  153,  for  three  years' 
reading.  "  The  New  Testament  Scriptures,"  Charteris,  p.  17.  Ether- 
idge,  "  Introduction  to  Hebrew  Literaturf;,"  p.  201. 

^  The  year  was  not  so  determined  in  that  era  that  the  same  number 
of  weeks,  or  Sabbaths,  would  always  occur  one  year  with  another,  some 
years  having  as  many  as  fifty-four  Sabbaths,  or  thirteen  months. 
Ayres'  Dictionary,  "  Clironology." 


WHAT   WAS    SCRIPTURE?  I95 

to ;  indeed  the  earliest  Hebrew  writers  think  they 
existed  almost  so  far  back  as  the  time  of  Moses.'^ 

3.  In  the  time  of  Ezra  the  books  of  Ezra,  Ne- 
hemiah,  Chronicles,  Esther,  Malachi,  and  possibly 
Daniel,  were  not  included  in  the  Canonical  books  of 
that  time,  simply  because  they  were  either  not  com- 
pleted or  too  recently  completed.  Scripture,  or  the 
Bible  as  we  would  call  it,  consisted  only  of  the  five 
books.  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and 
Deuteronomy,  in  one  roll.  The  Psalms  of  David 
were  sung  in  the  Temple  worship,  but  no  other  books 
appear  to  have  been  used  in  public  worship  until  the 
time  we  have  already  stated,  B.  C.  168.  But  the  Jew- 
ish writers  included  in  the  word  "prophets"  some  of 
the  historical  books.f 

Ezra  is  considered  by  both  ancient  Jews  and  by 
modern  scholars  to  be  the  author  both  of  the  Chron- 
icles and  of  Ezra.;}:  Nehemiah  was  the  author  of 
the  book  bearing  his  name,  and  this  is  the  last  histor- 
ical book  of  Scripture,  as  Malachi  is  the  last  prophetic 
book.  The  book  of  Nehemiah  contains  the  history 
of  the  Jews  from  a  period  beginning  12  years  after 
the  close  of  the  book  of  Ezra,  B.  C.  456,  to  about  no 
years  after  the  Captivity,  or  B.  C.  426,  with  the  excep- 
tion we  shall  hereafter  state,  p.  219.  Esther  became 
queen  of  Xerxes  B.  C.  478. §    The  inscription  on  the 

*  "Talmud,"  Berokolh,  12;  Etheridge,  "Introduction  to  Hebrew  Lit- 
erature, p.  201. 

t  VVestcott,  "  Bible  in  the  Church,"  p.  29. 

X  VVestcott,  p.  36. 

\  "The  Book  of  Esther,"  Andover,  1885.  p.  i8. 


196  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

rocks  at  Behustan,  215  miles  northeast  of  Babylon, 
has  shown  that  this  king  was  the  Ahasuerus  of  the 
book  of  Esther,  which  was  written  some  years  after 
she  became  queen. 

4.  In  regard  to  the  size  of  those  ancient 
boolfs,  it  should  be  remembered  that  it  was  not 
always  convenient  to  bind  together  in  any  way  more 
than  a  very  few  of  them  in  one  volume.  They  were 
in  rolls,  as  the  word  "  volume  "  means,  and  when  we 
know  that  one  ancient  roll  of  only  the  Law  of  Moses, 
of  average  size,  in  manuscript,  which  is  preserved  in 
the  Collegiate  Library,  Manchester,  England,  is  160 
feet  long  and  20  inches  wide,  we  may  readily  see 
that  very  few  could  be  handled  at  a  time. 

THE   ORDER   OF   THE   BOOKS. 

5.  The  books  of  the  Okl  Testament  were 
named  in  the  order  of  their  importance  in  Jewish 
estimation,  and  not  as  we  would  name  them  to-day 
in  the  order  of  their  position  in  the  single  volume  of 
our  Bibles.  The  books  of  the  Law  always  took  pre- 
cedence in  the  order,  then  the  Prophets,  and  after 
them  the  Psalms,  as  three  general  divisions,  and 
this  statement  included  all,  Luke  24 :  44.  That  some 
of  the  books  were  kept  in  separate  rolls  to  a  very  late 
period  is  evident  even  in  the  time  of  Christ,  for  when 
he  appeared  in  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth  only  the 
roll  of  the  prophet  Isaiah  was  handed  to  him,  and 
from  this  he  read,  Luke  4:17. 

6.  Bvit  in  tlie  enumeration  of  the  books  indi- 


WHAT   WAS   SCRIPTURE?  I97 

vidually,  except  in  the  case  of  the  five  "  books  of  the 
Law,"  which,  as  we  have  said,  have  never  been 
known  otherwise  than  in  one  volume,  it  is  evident 
that  some  variations  of  the  exact  order  have  oc- 
curred. These  variations  had  their  origin  in  the 
Septuagint"^'  translation,  wherein  the  translators  not 
only  changed  the  Hebrew  order,  but  the  Hebrew 
names  of  some,  and  even  divided  some  of  the  books, 
making  two  or  more  out  of  one. 

7.  As  an  lllvistratioii  of  tlie  ohang-es  in 
names  of  the  books,  the  translators  gave  the  Greek 
names:  Genesis,  "the  beginning;"  Exodus,  "the 
going  out ;"  Leviticus,  "  concerning  Levitical  law ;" 
Numbers  (of  Latin  derivation),  because  the  book 
contains  the  census  of  the  tribes  or  numbers  ;f  Deu- 
teronomy, the  Greek  for  "the  repeated  law,"  be- 
cause of  the  repetition  of  the  law. 

8.  The  Jews  used  tlie  initial  Hebrew 
words  of  each  book  in  the  Pentateuch  for  its  name ; 
but  this  does  not  occur  afterwards.  The  books  of 
Samuel  were  one  with  the  older  Jews,  and  so  were 
the  books  of  Kings  ;  but  the  Greek  translators  made 
them  the  first  and  second  books  of  the  "  kingdoms," 
and  the  books  of  Kings  came  in  course  as  the  third 
and  fourth  books,  and  this  is  the  reason  for  the  addi- 
tions to  the  titles  in  our  English  Bibles,  "  otherwise 
called  the  first  book,  the  second  book,  etc.,  of  Kings." 

*  Described  hereafter,  p.  204. 

t  The  Septuagiiit  gave  it  the  name  "  Numbers,"  but  tlie  English  is 
the  translation  of  the  Greek,  but  in  the  other  case  the  Greek  words  are 
used  in  English  letters. 


198  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

END   OF  THE   CANONICAL   PERIOD. 

9.  By  this  term  is  meant  the  end  of  that  time 
whose  history  is  included  in  the  latest  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament books.  Some  of  these  books  contain  histo- 
ries which  extend  to  a  period  nearer  the  Christian 
era  than  do  the  histories  of  others,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  books  of  the  Chronicles,  of  Esther,  of  Ezra,  and 
Nehemiah. 

10.  The  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 
are  thirty-nine  in  number,  present  the  records  of 
events  which  transpired  during  the  course  of  more 
than  3,500  years,  or  from  the  creation  of  Adam  to 
the  third  century  before  the  Christian  era.  But  we 
must  keep  in  mind  the  distinction  between  the  time 
when  events  occurred  and  the  time  when  such  events 
were  first  recorded.  There  yet  remains  another  date, 
namely  that  of  the  period  when  the  collator  or  colla- 
tors of  all  these  manuscripts  produced  his  or  their 
own  work  of  collecting  and  arranging  them  into  one 
history  or  one  volume.     Let  us  suppose  a  case. 

11.  A  historian  undertakes  to  write  a  true 
history  of  the  times  of  the  Norman  conquest.  In 
gathering  the  materials  for  this  history  he  visits  the 
libraries  and  collections  and  finds  an  old  manuscript- 
history  of  events  written  by  some  one  who  was  on 
the  field  at  the  battle  of  Hastings,  and  another  writ- 
ten by  one  who  lived  in  the  times  soon  after  and 
had  heard  from  living  witnesses  of  the  exploits  of  the 
warrior  Hereward  in  his  contests  with  the  Normans. 


WHAT   WAS   SCRIPTURE?  I99 

In  another  manuscript  he  finds  a  collection  of  the 
ballads  of  those  times  commemorating  the  acts  of 
some  brave  knight  and  some  reminiscences  of  that 
age  as  communicated  by  tradition  to  immediate  de- 
scendants. With  these  and  other  materials  he  com- 
piles the  history  desired. 

13.  Sucli  a  history  of  the  Norman  conquest  of 
England  would  be  credible,  first,  if  the  editor  or 
compiler  in  his  researches  truthfully  found  and 
wisely  used  such  manuscripts  as  we  have  described ; 
and  second,  if  the  manuscripts  and  his  other  authori- 
ties were  in  themselves  trustworthy.  But  how  is 
this  to  be  tested  ?  We  read  the  new  book  when  fin- 
ished, and  in  order  to  learn  something  satisfactory 
upon  these  two  points  we  now  start  out  upon  our 
examinations.  Our  question  is,  Was  there  ever  such 
an  event  as  the  battle  of  Hastings  ?  How  shall  we 
get  testimony  ? 

13.  The  |»*eography  of  the  country,  local  re- 
mains, and  other  facts  may  furnish  us  with  evi- 
dence for  or  against.  In  one  chapter  of  the  book  it 
is  stated  that  there  was  an  old  castle  in  which  Wil- 
liam lodged  the  night  before  the  battle,  and  that 
there  is  from  it  no  view  north,  but  a  fair  view  to- 
wards the  south. 

We  visit  Hastings  and  find  the  remains  of  an  old 
castle,  and  we  see  high  hills  on  the  north  and  none 
on  the  south.  Herein  we  see  some  corroboration  of 
the  history.  But  now  some  one  shows  that  there 
is  no  evidence  that  any  battle  ever  was  fought  at 


200  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Hastings,  and  the  oldest  manuscripts  sustain  the 
objection,  and  show  that  the  battle  of  the  conquest 
was  fought  at  a  place  called  Senlac. 

This  now  throws  a  doubt  upon  the  whole  history. 
There  is  contradiction,  perhaps  error.  We  go  back 
to  the  study  of  the  manuscripts  and  we  find  that  a 
more  recent  collator  of  the  history  of  the  conquest, 
writing  with  a  view  to  readers  of  his  own  times, 
introduced  the  new  name,  "  Hastings,"  as  better 
understood  than  another  name,  Senlac,  and  all  sub- 
sequent copyists  followed  his  manuscript. 

But  the  early  name,  "  Senlac,"  is  found  nowhere, 
while  it  still  remains  true  that  no  battle  was  fought 
at  Hastings.  Additional  doubt  shadows  the  whole 
history.  But  now  in  a  monastery  an  old  manuscript 
is  found,  written  centuries  ago,  describing  some  of 
the  old  abbeys,  among  which  one  is  mentioned 
named  "  Battle  Abbey,"  followed  by  a  short  explana- 
tion, stating  that  it  is  located  at  the  village  called 
"  Battle,"  quite  near  Hastings.  The  last  part  is  an 
interpolation  in  the  manuscript,  and  evidently  writ- 
ten many  years  after  the  writing  of  the  original 
manuscript,  and  both  authors  are  unknown. 

We  now  visit  the  village  of  Battle,  near  Hastings, 
and  find  local  traditions  handed  down  in  connection 
with  an  old  abbey  still  remaining  and  built  upon  the 
spot  where  Harold  fell.  Arrow-heads  and  fragments 
of  battle-axes  are  found  and  are  shown  to  us  ;  the 
former  are  found  scattered  over  the  hills  only  on  one 
side.     This  corroborates  another  statement,  that  the 


WHAT   WAS   SCRIPTURE?  20I 

Normans  used  bows  and  arrows,  while  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  used  only  battle-axes. 

All  these  discoveries  strengthen  the  links  in  the 
chain  of  evidences  between  facts  and  their  history, 
until  all  doubts  are  cleared  away  and  even  the  "  va- 
lidity of  doubt  itself  is  doubtful." 

14.  Just  siicli  a  course  of  research,  of  discov- 
ery, and  of  success  in  final  vindication  has  attended 
almost  every  historical  announcement  in  Scripture. 

15.  At  the  close  of  the  Canonical  period,  what- 
ever books  made  up  the  Canon  were  so  rigidly  guard- 
ed ever  afterwards  in  every  way,  by  memorizing,  by 
commentary  and  paraphrase,  by  increasing  the  cop- 
ies in  manuscripts,  and  by  numbering  letters  and 
words,  that  it  is  impossible  that  any  material  differ- 
ence exists  between  them  and  the  books  which  make 
up  the  Old  Testament  of  the  present  day.  These 
books  have  not  been  changed  in  any  important  re- 
spect during  the  2,200  years  which  have  transpired 
since  the  close  of  the  Canon. 

16.  But  uow  the  chief  discuf'sion  is  upon  the 
question.  Did  the  books,  at  the  close  of  the  Canonical 
period,  fairly  represent  those  books  which  the  origi- 
nal authors  wrote  before  the  Canon  was  closed  ?  In 
other  words,  have  we  a  true  copy  of  the  books  of 
Moses  and  true  copies  of  those  who  wrote  after  him  ? 
The  second  question  is.  Were  those  ancient  books 
trustworthy — were  they  truly  historical  ?  Did  Ezra 
and  the  others  wisely  and  truly  use  the  old  manu- 
scripts, and  were  those  manuscripts  trustworthy  ? 

9* 


202  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

IT  Now  it  will  be  perceived  that  we  occupy 
the  position  of  those  who  undertook  to  corroborate 
the  history  of  the  battle  of  Hastings.  We  shall  pro- 
ceed somewhat  as  we  did  then. 

From  the  repeated  and  varied  discoveries  in 
Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Palestine  we  have  a  repetition 
of  the  names  of  kings  and  of  cities  never  known 
before  the  present  century  except  as  they  were 
mentioned  in  Scripture.  They  have  been  recently 
found  recorded  upon  the  monuments  which  had 
been  buried  centuries  before  the  captivity,  and 
brought  to  light  only  in  the  present  century.  In- 
scriptions have  been  discovered  which  repeated  his- 
torical statements  of  early  Scripture  books,  some  of 
which  statements  had  either  been  omitted  entirely 
by  every  Greek  historian  or  had  been  contradicted 
by  them,  but  which,  when  the  hieroglyphic  and 
cuneiform  languages  could  be  read,  were  proved  to 
be  accurate  statements — thus  giving  testimony  to 
the  fact  that  the  Scripture  accounts  were  more  an- 
cient and  more  accurate  than  any  of  the  Greek  or 
other  histories. 

18.  Again:  peculiar  terms  of  art  occur  in 
the  Scriptures,  with  official  titles,  trade  names,  allu- 
sions to  customs,  and  forms  of  expression,  the  origins 
of  which  have  been  found  only  among  the  nations 
where,  or  about  which,  these  particular  books  of 
Scripture  purport  to  have  been  written ;  and  they 
could  be  recognized  only  after  the  hieroglyphic  his- 
tories of  these  ancient  nations  could  be  read. 


WHAT   WAS   SCRIPTURE?  203 

The  inferences  from  all  these  parallelisms  are 
apparent :  these  Scripture  books  are  truly  historical, 
they  contain  the  records  of  facts  and  are  trust- 
worthy. 

At  what  time  all  these  histories  were  committed 
to  writing,  or  who  were  the  writers,  we  are  not  in  all 
cases  able  to  show ;  but  inability  in  this  respect  does 
not  disprove  the  fact  of  authenticity. 

»     VARIATIONS   IN   THE   BOOKS. 

19.  When  ive  consider  the  ages  through 
which  many  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  have  passed, 
and  the  singular  conditions  upon  which  they  have 
thus  passed  through  those  ages,  we  may  readily  ap- 
preciate the  claim  of  a  supernatural  preservation. 

There  are  writings,  more  ancient  than  those  of 
the  Mosaic  manuscripts,  which  have  come  down  to 
us  from  long  before  the  time  of  Moses ;  such  are  the 
so-called  "  Books  of  the  Dead,"  found  in  the  tombs 
of  Egypt  ;*  but  these  writings,  as  soon  as  they  were 
finished,  were  immediately  locked  up  amid  the  spi- 
ces, the  darkness  and  protection  of  the  tomb,  till  re- 
cently brought  out,  while  the  contents  of  the  books 
of  the  Mosaic  Law,  and  other  manuscripts  of  Scrip- 
ture, have  come  percolating  down  through  the  ages, 
doing  battle  all  that  time  with  thousands  of  scribes, 
and  indeed  with  any  transcriber  who  felt  inclined  to 

*  The  "  Book  of  the  Dead  "  is  found  in  more  than  one  copy,  though 
originally  one,  having  been  added  to— hence  we  use  the  plural  term. 
Called  also  "  Ritual  of  the  Dead."  Rawlinson's  "  Religions  of  the  An- 
cient World,"  p.  26,  note.  . 


204  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

copy  a  book ;  and  that  work  of  transcribing  has  con- 
tinued from  the  period  when  the  Mosaic  manuscripts 
were  completed  down  to  the  period  of  the  return 
from  the  captivity,  or  of  the  close  of  the  Canon — that 
is  over  a  thousand  years — and  from  that  period  to 
the  present. 

Excepting  variations  in  some  numerical  figures 
and  in  a  few  names,  which  may  be  accounted  for, 
and  in  some  cases  corrected,  all  the  rest  of  the  vari- 
ations are  of  so  small  importance  that  the  Bible,  as 
we  possess  it,  may  well  be  considered  a  literary  mon- 
ument, standing  alone  and  unexampled  amid  the  lit- 
erature of  all  time.  And  this  not  only  for  its  singular 
preservation,  but  for  that  evident  unity  of  purpose, 
persistent  through  all  its  variety  of  subjects  and 
authors,  until  the  time  when  the  last  prophetic 
utterance  closed  the  Canon. 

Then  there  stood  out  in  luminous  form  a  fin- 
ished work,  whose  pages  exhibit  the  proof  of  a  sys- 
tematic plan,  designed  from  the  very  beginning  to 
fill  out  progressively  its  mysterious  pages,  until  the 
last  letter  was  complete,  in  order  that  a  world  might 
see,  in  one  volume,  the  object  of  creation,  the  neces- 
sity of  law,  the  illustrations  of  judgment  and  of 
providence,  and  the  redemption  and  coming  salva- 
tion of  the  race. 

THE   SEPTUAGINT,   B.   C.    286-285.   (?) 

20.  The  conquest  of  the  Persians  under 
Alexander    introduced     the    Greek    language    into 


WHAT   WAS   SCRirTURE?  20$ 

Western  Asia  and  otlier  lands.  This  introduction 
prepared  the  way  for  a  very  extensive  circulation 
of  the  entire  Old  Testament  writings  throughout  the 
surrounding  nations  and  even  the  world.  For  up 
to  this  time  all  the  Old  Testament  was  in  the  He- 
brew language  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  translation  into 
the  Greek  was  made,  of  which  we  shall  now  speak, 
even  those  who  could  not  speak  Greek  could  easily 
find  those  who  could,  because  among  the  learned 
and  unlearned  there  were  many  who  knew  Greek 
who  did  not  understand  the  Hebrew. 

When,  therefore,  the  death  of  Alexander  was 
followed  by  the  partition  of  his  conquests  among  his 
generals,  Egypt  became,  in  B.  C.  322,  governed  by 
the  Ptolemies,  the  second  of  whom,  Ptolemy  Phil- 
adelphus,  B.  C.  286-247,  had  the  Law  of  Moses,  that 
is  the  first  five  books,  translated  from  the  Hebrew 
into  the  Greek. 

21.  Under  the  first  of  the  Ptolemies  (Soter) 
the  Alexandrian  Museum  was  founded  for  the  re- 
ception of  learned  men,  as  well  as  of  literary  treas- 
ures, and  Alexandria  soon  superseded  Athens  as 
the  chief  nursery  of  Greek  literature.  Under  his 
successor  and  son,  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  the  library 
of  the  Museum  contained  90,000  volumes  of  distinct 
works,  but  400,000  with  the  duplicates. 

Beginning  with  some  period  in  the  reign  of  the 
first  Ptolemy  (Soter^,  the  Jews  were  attracted  to 
Alexandria  in  large  numbers  as  settlers,  to  whom 
this  Ptolemy  assigned  a  suburb  on  the  coast  towards 


2o6  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

the  east.  The  city  became  the  resort  of  some  of  the 
wisest  and  ablest  men  of  the  age,  including  such 
men  as  Apelles  the  painter,  Euclid  the  mathemati- 
cian, and  many  others,  artists  and  scholars. 

33.  But  under  Ptoleiny  II.,  Pliiladelpluis, 
B.  C.  283,  the  Museum  became  most  prosperous,  and 
among  its  members  were  numbered  grammarians, 
natural  philosophers,  astronomers,  physicians,  poets, 
and  Greek  philosophers  of  the  schools.*  It  was  under 
this  state  of  things  that  the  translation  above  re- 
ferred to  was  asked  by  the  king  and  was  undertaken, 
according  to  tradition,  by  seventy  of  the  most  learned 
Jews  of  that  date,  and  hence  called  "  The  translation 
of  the  seventy,"  or  the  Septuagint. 

23,  Altlioug-li  at  first  only  the  Pentateuch 
was  translated,  the  other  books  were,  in  after  years, 
gradually  added  to  this  translation.  The  Septuagint 
was  used  among  the  Jews  not  only  of  Alexandria, 
but  of  Palestine  also,  and  during  the  times  of  our 
Saviour  and  the  apostles  was  more  frequently  quoted 
than  was  the  original  Hebrew.f 

*  Baedeker's  "  Egj'pt,"  p.  210. 

t  Prideaux  states  that  there  were  100,000  Jews  in  Alexandria  at  this 
time,  B.  C.  270. 


THE   ORIGIN    OF   THE   TALJNIUD.  20/ 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   TALMUD. 

1 .  It  ^vill  be  remembered  that  although  un- 
der Cyrus  the  Jews  were  permitted  full  liberty  to 
return  to  Palestine,  not  all  the  Jewish  nation  ac- 
cepted the  privilege.  A  very  large  number  of  the 
wealthiest,  and  indeed  of  the  most  learned  classes, 
remained  behind.  They  did  much  for  the  support 
of  the  Temple  and  for  other  objects  among  those 
who  had  returned  to  Palestine,  but  they  themselves 
continued  the  synagogue  service  in  Babylonia  and 
in  Persia,  as  appears  from  various  statements  and 
allusions,  not  only  in  Jewish  writings,  but  also  in 
other  history. 

2,  Among'  those  Jei^^s,  however,  who  had  re. 
turned  to  Palestine  there  arose  very  early  a  class  of 
devout  and  earnest  students  of  the  Law  and  of  the 
other  books  of  Scripture.  There  began  also  a  most 
diligent  collection  of  the  traditions  of  the  Jewish 
race  and  the  opinions  of  the  learned.  Meanwhile  a 
very  constant  correspondence  was  cherished  between 
the  colonists  abroad  and  those  in  the  Holy  Land, 
and  both  at  home  and  abroad  there  were  those  who 
were  learned  in  the  Law  and  in  the  other  books. 

The  whole  object  of  study  and  correspondence 
among  the  learned  was  to  explain  and  illustrate  the 


208  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

sacred  literature  in  all  its  branches.  The  informa- 
tion thus  gained  laid  the  foundation  of  that  which 
was  soon  to  be  called  the  Talmud,  a  name  literally 
meaning-  Doctrine  or  Instruction. 

3.  But  before  we  treat  further  on  this  re- 
markable work  it  is  well  to  consider  certain  con- 
ditions which  added  much  to  the  formation  of  the 
Talmud. 

Although  the  Jews  reformed  forever  from  all 
tendency  to  idolatry,  they  nevertheless  differed 
among  themselves  on  many  details  of  both  faith  and 
practice,  and  hence  there  grew  up  an  exceedingly 
critical  study  of  the  literature  and  teachings  of  the 
book. 

THE   VARIOUS    SCHOOLS. 

4c  Betweeu  the  close  of  the  Canonical  period 
and  the  Christian  era  there  arose  many  intellectual 
and  studious  ones,  who  ranged  themselves  under 
three  general  and  widespread  schools. 

(i)  The  Traditionalists,  called  by  the  Jews  the 
Masoretic  School,  or  Pharisees. 

(2)  The  Philosophic  school,  of  whom  were 
the  Sadducees. 

(3)  The  Kabalistic  school. 

The  first  of  these  confined  themselves  strictly  to 
Scripture  and  tradition.  They  derived  their  name 
from  the  Hebrew  word  masar,  to  deliver,  as  from 
hand  to  hand. 

The  second  entered  the  paths  of  speculation  un- 
known to  the  fathers.      They  were  pleased  with  the 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   TALMUD.  209 

Greek  philosophy,  due  to  their  contact  with  the 
schools  of  Alexandria.  They  strove  to  harmonize 
the  principles  of  Judaism  with  the  doctrines  of  Py- 
thagoras, the  philosophy  of  Plato,  and  the  logic  of 
Aristotle.  Thus,  as  virtue  was  its  own  reward,  they 
taught  that  there  can  be  no  future  reward,  and  there- 
fore that  there  was  no  future  life  and  no  resurrec- 
tion ;  and  this  was  the  belief  of  the  Sadducees. 

The  third  school,  Kabalistic,  believed  in  the  mys- 
teries, or  secret  meaning  of  the  words  of  the  Law. 
They  thought  they  could  detect  secret  truths  in  the 
words,  and  sometimes  the  letters  of  the  words,  which 
others  could  not  apprehend.  They  taught  that  the 
truths  were  to  the  words  of  Scripture  what  the  soul 
is  to  the  body,  and  that  we  are  mistaken  if  we  see 
only  the  letter  in  the  Scripture,  and  fail  to  ascend 
by  the  help  of  the  letter  to  the  ideas  of  the  Infinite 
Mind.* 

5.  From  the  men  of  the  Masoretic  school, 
who  devoted  themselves  strictly  to  the  Law  and  Tra- 
dition, arose  a  series  of  academies,  or  scholastic  in- 
stitutions. Those  were  presided  over  by  the  most 
learned  members  of  that  body,  which,  as  we  have 
said,  followed  upon  the  Great  Synagogue  after  the 
death  of  Simon  the  Just,  and  which  was  called  the 
Sanhedrin,  or  council.f  This  council,  about  this 
time,  became  the  seat  of  supreme  legislative  power 

*  Both  Josephus  and  Philo  gave  descriptions  of  this  class  of  Jews 
under  the  name  of  Essenes,  iioly  men.  See  Prideaux,  Part  II.,  Bk.  5, 
also  Etheridge's  "  Introduction  to  Hebrew  Literature,"  p.  21. 

t  "  Introduction  to  Hebrew  Literature,"  Elheridge.  p.  29. 

Biblical  IliBtoiy  mid  GeOBiniihy. 


2IO  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

among-  the  Jews,  in  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical  mat- 
ters, but  was  subsequently  divested  of  some  of  its 
powers  by  Gabinius,  the  Roman  governor  of  Syria, 
B.  C.  57.*  It  is  referred  to  in  the  New  Testament 
(Matt.  5  :  22  ;  26  :  59  ;  Acts  4:15;  5:27,  etc.). 

G.  But  the  Sanliedriii,  which  was  presided 
over  by  the  high-priest,  became  the  centre  of  learn- 
ing and  authority  so  far  back  as  B.  C.  200  years. 

The  priesthood  was  recognized  as  the  legitimate 
ministers  of  the  altar ;  but  the  people,  with  whom 
the  Mosaic  Law  was  supreme,  entering  as  it  did  into 
all  the  details  of  their  lives,  regarded  the  expositors 
and  interpreters  of  that  Law  with  the  highest  honor. 
With  them  "  the  voice  of  the  rabbi "  became  "  the 
voice  of  God."  f 

7.  For  many  years  before  the  Christian  era 
the  Sanhedrin  was  the  highest  authority  in  matters 
of  faith,  and  its  utterances,  or  more  particularly 
those  of  the  most  learned  of  its  members,  both  in 
traditions  and  in  opinions,  became  so  numerous  that 
from  being  only  orally  delivered,  they  were  commit- 
ted to  writing,  and  these  writings  and  opinions  upon 
the  Law  were  the  foundation  of  that  voluminous 
work  called  the  Talmud,  with  its  divisions. 

FORM    OF   THE   TALMUD. 

8.  The  Talmud  tlierefore  in  the  main  was  the 
growth  of  centuries,  beginning  from  about  B.  C.  220 

«  See  Parkhurst's  Lexicon,  "Sanhedrin,"  p.  825. 

f  "  Introduction  to  Hebrew  Literature,"  Etheridge,  p.  29. 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   TALMUD.  211 

to  several  centuries  after  Christ.  It  was  composed 
of  the  text  of  the  Law,  both  the  written  law  and  that 
which  was  believed  to  be  additional  law,  although 
only  handed  down  from  age  to  age,  but  never  writ- 
ten. This  was  called  the  oral  law.  All  this  com- 
prised that  part  of  the  Talmud  called  "  the  repeti- 
tion," or  in  the  Hebrew  the  Misiina.  Then  came 
the  "  Commentary  "  upon  every  part,  and  this  was 
called  the  Gamara. 

THE    BABYLONIAN   TALMUD, 

9.  As  there  had  been  a  very  lar^e  and 
learned  class  of  Jews  in  Babylon  from  the  Cap- 
tivity to  the  time  of  Christ,  there  was  also  a  corre- 
sponding number  of  very  important  schools  in  several 
cities  on  the  Euphrates  and  east  of  it.  These  also 
gathered  a  Talmud,  with  its  Mishna  and  Gamara; 
but  this — called  the  Babylonian  Talmud — was  of 
later  origin  than  the  Jerusalem  Talmud. 

A   WONDERFUL   MEMORY. 

10.  The  various  traditions  which  in  all  vari- 
ety of  expression,  as  unwritten  laws,  as  commenta- 
ries and  opinions,  went  to  make  up  the  Talmud, 
with  its  Mishna  and  Gamara,  had  remained  unwrit- 
ten for  generations  because  there  was  a  rule  given 
out  by  some  of  their  learned  men  and  teachers  that 
"  things  delivered  by  word  of  mouth  must  not  be 
recorded."  But  about  A.  D.  i8o  one  of  the  most 
influential  and  wisest  of  their  number,  Rabbi  Jehu- 


212  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

dah,  decided  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  Mish- 
na  must  be  committed  to  writing.  Rabbi  Jehudah, 
for  whom  the  greatest  veneration  existed,  began 
with  his  fellow-laborers'  the  heavy  task  of  reducing 
all  these  traditions  and  decisions  of  many  genera- 
tions to  a  written  form,  and  this  work  was  performed 
at  Tiberias  (on  the  lake  of  the  same  name,  70  miles 
north  of  Jerusalem),  where  a  celebrated  school  exist- 
ed after  Titus  had  destroyed  Jerusalem.*  It  is  a 
memorable  fact  that  for  nearly  four  centuries  the 
vast  amount  of  literature  which  composed  the  Tal- 
mud had  been  stored  only  in  the  memory  of  the 
learned  members  of  the  Jewish  nation. 

11.  The  vastness  of  this  labor  of  memorial 
possession  may  be  comprehended  in  some  degree 
when  we  learn  that  of  only  one  rabbif  300  magis- 
terial sentences  are  recorded  in  the  Talmud,  and 
years  before  his  time  Rabbi  Hillel+  reduced  600  or 
700  sections,  which  had  been  known  before  only  in  a 
complicated  mass,  into  orders,  divisions,  chapters, 
and  verses,  whereby  they  could  be  better  memorized. 

12.  Although  this  cultivation  of  the  mem- 
ory was  carried  on  to  a  very  great  extent  among  the 
Jews  during  one  or  two  centuries  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  and  to  a  degree  unexcelled  by  any  other 

*  Etheridge,  "  Introduction  to  Jewish  Literature,"  p.  88.  Jerusalem 
was  destroyed  and  the  Temple  burned  A.  D.  70. 

t  Simon  Ben  Yochai,  time  of  the  Emperor  Antonine.  "Introduction 
to  Hebrew  Literature,"  p.  82. 

X  He  was  head  of  the  Sanhedrin  B.  C.  32.  "  Introduction  to  He- 
brew Literature,"  p.  27- 


THE   ORIGIN    OF   THE   TALMUD.  213 

nation, there  are  evidences  that  long  before  the  Cap- 
tivity  the   cultivation   of   the   memory  was   largely 
encouraged. 
13.  Manuscripts  ivere  rare  and  costly,  and 

therefore  methods  were  adopted,  as  in  the  composi- 
tion of  several  of  the  Psalms,  of  Proverbs,  and  Lam- 
entations, which  were  aids  to  memorizing.  One 
method  was  by  beginning  consecutive  verses  or  sec- 
tions with  consecutive  letters  of  the  alphabet.  Psalm 
II 9  is  composed  of  176  verses,  divided  into  a  number 
of  sections,  the  whole  number  of  sections  equal  to 
the  letters  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet  (22),  and  all  the 
eight  verses  of  each  section  begin  with  the  same  let- 
ter. In  Proverbs  31  :  10-31,  the  initial  letters  of  all 
the  verses  follow jthe  order  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet. 
The  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  are  composed  in  five 
poems,  each,  excepting  the  third,  consisting  of  22 
sections  or  verses,  a  verse  for  each  letter  in  the 
alphabet.  The  first  four  poems  begin  with  the  first 
letter  of  the  alphabet,  and  in  each  poem,  which 
makes  one  chapter,  the  after  sections  continue  in 
their  initial  letters  to  follow  the  order  of  the  alpha- 
bet. In  the  third  chapter  however  the  stanzas  are  in 
sets  of  three  of  the  Bible  venses,  and  each  verse  in 
the  set  begins  with  the  same  letter  of  the  alphabet, 
but  all  the  sets  are  in  the  alphabetical  order.  Such 
methods  suggest  the  work  of  memorizing. 

14.  Again,  we  may  say  that,  in  view  of  all  these 
facts,  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  "  the  Law " 
could  have  been  forgotten  in  the  Captivity  among 


214  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

all  the  learned  and  devout  men,  some  of  whom  were 
prophets.  It  would  seem  that  even  without  the  writ- 
ten copies  of  the  Law,  Ezra,  if  he  had  so  desired, 
could  not  have,  as  some  suppose,  introduced  into  the 
Law  an  entirely  new  book  of  Leviticus  or  Deuteron- 
omy, and  yet  no  one  amid  all  the  Jews  have  discov- 
ered the  forgery. 


CONCLUDING  REMARKS.  21$ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CONCLUDING   REMARKS. 

We  add  the  following  remarks  in  the  nature  of  a 
general  review  and  inference,  which  are  more  appro- 
priate to  this  era  of  the  Jewish  history  than  to  any- 
other. 

1.  There  never  was  a  time  when  the  Jew- 
ish people  exhibited  such  a  humble  and  yet  de- 
termined spirit  of  obedience  to  the  Mosaic  Law  as 
when  they  returned  from  the  Captivity.  All  the 
history  of  those  times  as  derived  from  the  Jewish 
writings,  both  sacred  and  secular,  fully  attests  this 
spirit.  All  their  hopes  for  the  future,  both  political 
and  religious,  were  conditioned  upon  outward  obedi- 
ence to  the  requirements  of  the  Law  as  explained 
by  the  teachings  of  their  ancient  prophets  or  illustra- 
ted and  made  more  impressive  in  the  Psalms  or 
songs  of  Israel  and  pictured  to  them  in  the  happier 
days  of  the  Temple  service.  All  that  appertained  to 
the  history  of  the  past  was  precious.  This  fact,  as 
we  have  shown,  was  illustrated  in  many  ways. 

2.  Moreover,  from  the  Scripture  history  of  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah,  it  is  plain  that  a  large  body  of  skilled 
men,  ably  instructed  in  the  Law  and  acquainted  with 
the  sacred  writings  of  the  Jewish  people,  were  among 
the  captives  before  the  close  of  the  Captivity.     The 


2l6  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Levites  and  priests  were  in  existence,  and  the  proph- 
ets were  among  tliem,  and  they  met  in  various  places 
for  worship  and  for  the  songs  of  Zion.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  Jews  in  Babylonia  and  elsewhere  was 
favorable  to  the  cultivation  of  their  literature,  and 
they  were  allowed  many  privileges. 

It  is  plain  from  the  letter  of  Artaxerxes,  Ezra 
7:11,  and  from  other  testimonies,  that  not  only  Ezra 
but  many  others  studied  the  Jewish  writings  long 
before  the  close  of  the  Captivity.  The  Samaritan 
Pentateuch  in  its  letters  may  offer  evidence  on  this 
point,  for  the  new  letters  in  which  the  Law  and  the 
canonized  books  were  written  very  probably  found 
their  origin  in  the  reverence  in  which  the  Jews  held 
the  sacred  writings  during  the  Captivity. 

These  new  letters,  as  we  have  said,  are  called  the 
"  square  form,"  but  they  were  called  by  the  early 
Jews*  "  the  Ashuri "  character,  Ashuri  meaning,  ac- 
cording to  Maimonides,  the  sacred  character,  and 
they  were  probably  invented  specially  for  sacred 
writings. 

The  old  Samaritan  letters  were  not  sacred.  They 
were  used  in  various  modifications  by  the  Canaan- 
ites ;  they  were  used  by  the  Moabites,  as  we  see  on 
the  Moabite  stone,  discovered  in  1868  at  Dibon,  east 
of  the  Dead  vSea ;  they  were  also  used  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians,! and  have  been  found  upon  Assyrian  weights 

■•■■  In  the  Gamara,  tract  Sanhedrin,  fol.  21,  22,  Conder's  "Hand- 
book," p.  174. 

t  As  seen  in  the  inscription  in  the  Siloam  tunnel,  "  Echoes  of  Bible 
History,"  Bisliop  Walsh,  p.  282. 


CONCLUDING    REMARKS.  21/ 

associated  with  the  cuneiform,  probably  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  merchants  and  tradesmen,*  upon 
the  coins  of  Judsea,  and  upon  one  coin  of  Jehu,  king 
of  Israel. f  It  was  therefore  a  common  character, 
and  it  was  strictly  in  keeping  with  the  Jewish  senti- 
ment of  exclusiveness  and  separation  of  themselves 
from  all  the  nations  around  that  they  should  clothe 
their  sacred  writings  in  a  letter  peculiarly  sacred. 
At  any  rate  we  have  no  other  origin  for  this  new 
form  of  lettering,  which  was  never  known  before  the 
Captivity,  and  which  was  used  after  the  Captivity 
exclusively  for  the  sacred  writings,  as  we  learn  from 
the  Talmuds  of  both  Jerusalem  and  Babylonia.:}: 

3.  The  various  sects  of  Pharisees,  with  their  oral 
tradition  and  "  unwritten  law,"  and  the  Kabalists, 
with  their  fanciful  and  secret  interpretations,  had 
not  arisen  at  the  time  of  Ezra.  The  Scriptures  were 
gathered  and  copied  mainly  for  instruction ;  and, 
as  we  learn  from  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  the  people 
were  as  earnest  as  the  teachers  in  their  desire  that 
the  Scriptures  should  be  known  and  distinctly  un- 
derstood, and  this  object  appears  to  have  been  sin- 
cerely pursued  in  the  work  prosecuted  at  that  time. 
At  this  period  the  exclusive  demand  was  for  those 
writings  which  should  enlighten  the  people  as  to 
duty,  both  in  regard  to  the  divine  law  and  provi- 
dence, and  for  such  writings  as  should  illustrate  their 

*  Conder's  "  Handbook  to  the  Bible,"  London,  1887,  p.  173. 
t  Recently  discovered  by  Dr.  Ginsburg,  in  British  Museum. 
J  Bishop  Walsh's  "  Echoes  of  Bible  History,"  p.  257. 

ID 


2l8  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

history  as  under  the  Law  and  as  seen  in  God's  deal- 
ings with  their  fathers.  That  the  influence  of  the 
Law  and  of  the  teachings  of  their  prophets  power- 
fully controlled  their  actions  and- lives  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  they  never  again  fell  into  idolatry. 
Their  truthfulness  to  their  promises  and  their  good 
faith  as  a  people  were  so  apparent  that  these  traits 
frequently  led  to  their  appointment  to  positions  of 
trust  and  privilege  among  several  of  the  surround- 
ing nations. 

4.  It  was  under  these  conditions  of  character  and 
motive  that  the  learned  scribes  of  these  times  made 
the  first  general  collection  of  Hebrew  literature  then 
existing.  The  names  of  several  books*  which  were 
extant  either  at  the  time  of  this  gathering  of  the 
Canonical  Books  or  before,  are  mentioned  in  the 
Scriptures ;  but  if  they  had  been  considered  worthy 
of  the  Canon  they  would  probably  have  been  pre- 
served by  copy  or  repetition.  All  that  was  valuable 
or  important  to  the  histories  which  were  preserved 
in  the  Scriptures  was  extracted  from  them  and  con- 
tained in  the  Canonical  Books  as  we  have  them  at 
present. 

Judging  from  certain  statements  in  the  genealo- 

*  The  books  are  "Jasher,"  Josh.  10:13;  2  Sam.  1:18;  "The  Acts  of 
Solomon,"  i  Kings  11:41;  "The  Book  of  Nathan,"  i  Chron.  29:29; 
2Chron.9:29;  "The  Prophecy  of  Ahijah,  the  Shilonite,"  and  "  Iddo  " 
(Yeddo),  "the  Seer,  against  Jeroboam,"  2  Chron.  9:29;  "The  Book  of 
Shemaiah ;"  "The  Book  of  Jehu,"  the  son  of  Hanani,  2  Chron.  12:15; 
20:34;  "  The  Sayings  of  the  Seers,"  2  Chron.  33:19;  and  the  "  Lamen- 
tations over  Josiah,"  which  are  not  the  same  as  those  over  Jerusalem 
which  we  have  in  the  Old  Testament. 


CONCLUDING   REMARKS.  219 

gies  and  in  the  concluding  history,  the  book  of 
Chronicles  was  the  last  that  was  written.  The  book 
of  Nehemiah  however  has  some  additions,  Neh. 
12:  10,  II,  22,  of  genealogies  which  bring  the  high- 
priests  down  to  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  as 
Josephus  (Vol.  v.,  Book  II.,  ch.  8)  shows,  who  states 
that  Jaddua,  whose  name  occurs  in  the  book  of  Ne- 
hemiah, was  high-priest  and  the  last  under  the  Per- 
sian rule,  and  must  therefore  have  lived  in  the  time 
when  Alexander  the  Great,  after  the  battle  of  Issus, 
B.  C.  334,  visited  Jerusalem,  B.  C.  332,  during  the 
high-priesthood  of  Jaddua. 

It  is  narrated  that  this  high-priest  was  succeeded 
by  Onias,  his  son,  and  he  by  "  Simon  the  Just,"  who 
was  called  by  the  Jews  the  last  of  the  men  of  the 
Great  Synagogue.  It  was  during  the  priesthood  of 
this  Simon  that,  according  to  the  general  opinion  of 
both  Jewish  and  Christian  writers,  the  final  addition 
was  made  to  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament.  Si- 
mon, who  was  not  only  high-priest,  but  a  man  of 
great  learning  and  of  most  fervent  piety  and  devo- 
tion to  the  Law,  is  said  to  have  added  the  books  of 
Chronicles,  of  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther,  and  the  proph- 
ecy of  Malachi ;  after  which,  as  Josephus  writes,  there 
was  no  further  change,  omission,  or  addition.  The 
Old  Testament  Canon  was  closed  then  for  ever. 


220  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  ERA. 

THE  LIFE  AMD  TIMES  OF  OUR  2AYI0UR. 

THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  THE  BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  HIS  PUBLIC  MINISTRY. 

1.  No  other  people  have  had  stronger  motives 
for  cherishing  the  memories  of  their  past  than  have 
had  the  Jews. 

One  of  the  most  important  sources  of  Jewish 
pride  was  found  in  their  genealogical  records. 
The  history  of  the  return  from  captivity  and  of  the 
renewed  settlement  in  Palestine,  as  recorded  in  the 
books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  shows  how  important 
these  records  were  considered  to  be.  But  the  most 
important  of  all  the  records  were  those  which  traced 
any  lineage  up  to  David,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  a  true  line  of  descent  was  ever  forgotten. 

Not  only  the  genealogy  of  the  male  members, 
but  also  that  of  the  female  members  of  a  family, 
were  preserved,  as  we  may  learn  from  Scripture 
accounts  and  certainly  from  secular  history.  A  sup- 
posed defect  in  the  genealogy  of  the  mother  of  John 


BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO   HIS   PUBLIC  MINISTRY.     221 

Hyrcanus,  a  high-priest,  B.  C.  io8,  was  the  cause  of 
bloodshed  in  Jerusalem*  because  of  the  insult  offered 
to  the  high-priest  by  the  bare  announcement  of  such 
a  defect,  although  it  was  shown  that  the  genealogical 
records  certified  her  descent  from  a  Jewish  tribe. 

2.  The  Virg-in  Mary's  genealog^y  was  as 
important  as  that  of  Joseph,  her  reputed  husband, 
although  her  husband's  genealogy  might  have  been 
perfect,  as  in  the  instance  given  in  the  last  para- 
graph. In  the  case  of  Hyrcanus,  his  father's  origin, 
according  to  the  Jewish  law,  was  without  defect ;  it 
was  the  mother's  pedigree  which  was  assailed. 

Especially  was  it  important  to  the  priest's  office 
that  the  mother  of  the  candidate  for  this  office 
should  be  of  unquestioned  Jewish  descent. 

3.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  while  the  writer  of 
the  first  Gospel  (Matthew)  opens  his  history  of  the 
Messiah  with  the  answer  to  the  important  question. 
Whose  son  is  he  ?  the  writer  of  the  third  Gospel 
(Luke)  gives  the  lineage  of  his  mother.  So  that, 
whether  Christ's  pedigree  be  traced  through  the  line 
of  Joseph  or  of  Mary,  it  is  undeniable  that  he  was 
descended  from  David  and  from  Abraham.f 

NAZARETH   AND   BETHLEHEM. 

4.  These  two  places,  which  are  brought  into 
prominence  at  this  part  of  the  history,  were  68  miles 

*  Josephus'  "Antiquities,"  lib.  13,  ch.  18.      Prideaux,  B.  II.,  ch.  5., 
p.  31- 

t  Bloomfield's  "  Notes,"  Matt,  i :  i. 


222  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

apart,  Bethlehem  being  not  quite  five  miles,  a  little 
west  of  south,  from  Jerusalem,  and  Nazareth  63 
miles  north  of  Jerusalem,  if  the  distances  be  meas- 
ured in  a  straight  line. 

5.  Nazareth  is  a  village  of  about  5,000  inhabi- 
tants, situated  in  a  plain  surrounded  almost  entirely 
by  hills.  The  place  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament,  nor  in  Josephus,  but  twenty-nine  times 
in  the  New  Testament.  The  city  itself  rises  in  part 
upon  the  sides  of  a  hill  on  its  northwest  side,  but 
the  little  plain  at  the  south  end  of  the  city  is  1,144 
feet  above  the  sea  level,  and  the  top  of  the  hill 
northwest  of  the  city  1,602  feet,  or  458  feet  higher.* 
The  country  slopes  from  Nazareth  southward  to  the 
northern  limit  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  two  miles 
distant,  where  the  level  is  about  300  feet  above  the 
sea.  The  Mediterranean  is  twenty-one  miles  west 
from  Nazareth,  and  the  southernmost  shore  of  the 
Sea  of  Galilee  is  seventeen  miles  due  east  of  the  city. 
The  soil  has  always  been  fertile  and  the  climate 
pleasant.  It  has  one  fine  spring  which  supplies  the 
entire  city,  as  it  must  have  done  in  the  time  of 
Christ. 

6.  Bethlehem  contains  nearly  the  same  popula- 
tion as  Nazareth,  but  its  surroundings  are  the  re- 
verse of  those  at  Nazareth,  Bethlehem  being  upon 
an  elevation.  A  church,  erected  by  Constantine, 
A.  D.  330,  still  remains,  which  furnishes  us  with  the 
style  of  architecture  of  the  earliest  Christian  period. 

*  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  Map;  but  Baedeker  1,788  ft. 


BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  HIS  PUBLIC  MINISTRY.      223 

This  was  the  city  of  David  and  of  his  father 
Jesse,  and  hence  always  held  dear  by  his  descend- 
ants, and  to  this  town  Joseph  and  Mary  went  from 
Nazareth  to  be  enrolled  in  accordance  with  the  de- 
cree issued  by  CaCvSar  Augustus,  as  stated  in  Luke 
2  : 1.  The  decree  was  only  for  the  enrolment.  The 
actual  collecting  of  the  taxes  did  not  take  place  for 
some  years  afterward,  as  is  recorded  in  Josephus, 
when  the  rebellion  took  place,  which  is  alluded  to  in 
Acts  5  :  37,  against  the  actual  levying  of  the  taxes."^ 

THE   BIRTH   OF   OUR   SAVIOUR. 

7.  During  their  stay  at  Bethlehem  Jesus 
was  bom.  The  crowd  was  great  of  the  many  who 
came  to  this  small  town  to  be  registered  by  the 
officers  taking  the  census,  and  the  accommodations 
for  his  parents  were  poor,  for  the  record  states  "  there 
was  no  room  for  them  in  the  inn  "  and  she  "  laid  him 
in  a  manger."     It  was  here  that  he  was  visited  by 

THE   WISE   MEN. 

8.  These  men,  usually  known  as  "the  Magi," 
belonged  to  a  class  of  astrologers  whose  office  it  was 

*  See  tlie  full  references  and  statements  in  Maclear's  "  New  Testa- 
ment History,"  p.  134.  Merivale  shows  that  Cyreniiis  was  twice  govern- 
or of  Syria,  and  tlie  Greek  word  nptjTTj  may  refer  to  the  first  time,  or  the 
enrolment.  See  also  Bloomfield's  "  Notes  on  the  New  Testament,"  Luke 
2.  "  The  whole  world  "  is  a  term  frequently  used  when  only  all  that 
land  and  no  more  was  meant.  Thus  in  2  Sam.  24:8,  in  the  Hebrew, 
"the  whole  world"  meant,  evidently,  the  whole  of  that  land  only. 
So  in  Acts  11:28;  17:6;  the  phrase  was  used  in  either  way  as  inclu- 
ding only  the  entire  Syria  or  Judaea  to  a  Jew,  or,  to  a  Roman  citizen, 
it  was  the  Roman  Empire. 


224  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

to  study  omens,  or  signs,  as  drawn  from  the  planets. 
They  were  descendants  of  a  class  which  was  noted 
for  learning-  and  influence  in  the  flourishing  ages 
of  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  but  neither  of  these  cities 
was  in  existence  at  this  time.  As  many  of  the  Magi 
had  retired  eastward  to  Persia  after  the  fall  of  Baby- 
lon, it  is  probable  that  these  came  from  the  Persian 
dominion  to  Jerusalem,  expecting  that  there  they 
should  learn  something  of  the  new  king. 

9.  The  coming  of  the  Messiah  had  long  been 
the  hope  of  the  captive  Jews,  and  as  a  large  number 
of  the  people,  some  of  influence  and  wealth,  existed 
at  this  time  in  the  Persian  dominions,  there  can  be 
but  little  doubt  that  these  "  wise  men  "  were  roused  to 
make  the  journey  they  did,  and  to  greet  the  advent 
of  a  king  who,  to  them,  after  seeing  the  celestial 
sign,  was  more  than  simply  a  "  King  of  the  Jews." 

10.  These  men  had  a  reputation  which  was 
highly  regarded  in  Jerusalem,  and  to  Herod  they 
were  not  strangers  of  a  common  class.  Hence  to 
him  their  inquiry  carried  great  importance.  His  con- 
sultation with  the  Sandedrin,  which  was  the  most 
learned  body  in  Jerusalem  at  that  time,  soon  showed 
that  the  Messiah,  according  to  the  prophets,  was  to 
be  born  in  Bethlehem,  Micah.  5  : 2.  To  this  place, 
guided  by  the  supernatural  sign,  they  came,  found 
the  child,  and  offered  their  gifts. 

HEROD   AND   HIS   SUCCESSOR. 

11.  The  effort  of  Herod  to  destroy  Jesus  in  an 


BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  HIS  PUBLIC  MINISTRY.      22$ 

indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the  children  of  Bethle- 
hem of  a  certain  age,  failed  of  its  intention.  Joseph, 
having  been  warned  in  a  dream,  took  the  young 
child  and  his  mother  and  fled  into  Egypt  before  the 
destruction  took  place. 

13.  Egypt  at  this  time  was  entirely  under  Ro- 
man control.  Many  Jews  inhabited  Alexandria  and 
were  in  affluent  circumstances;  two  of  them  had 
been  chief  officers  of  the  armies  of  Cleopatra.  The 
two  refugees,  with  the  child,  in  that  land  were  safely 
beyond  the  power  of  Herod,  and  there  they  re- 
mained until  the  death  of  Herod,  which  took  place 
about  a  year  after  their  departure  from  Bethlehem. 

13.  Arch  elans,  who  succeeded  Herod,  was  his 
son,  but  he  inherited  none  of  the  enterprise  and 
mental  ability,  but  only  the  atrocious  cruelty  of  his 
father ;  and  the  complaints  of  the  Jews  occasioned 
his  deposition  and  the  confiscation  of  his  property. 
Joseph  and  Mary,  fearing  the  consequences  of  com- 
ing within  the  power  of  Archelaus,  after  the  death 
of  Herod  returned  to  Nazareth  in  Galilee. 

THE   EARLY   CHILDHOOD   OF  JESUS. 

14.  One  incident  only  is  recorded  of  Jesus 
from  this  time  until  he  arrived  at  manhood.  This 
incident  was  his  visit  to  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem, 
when  only  twelve  years  of  age.  His  parents,  with 
their  friends,  had  visited  the  city  to  attend  the 
great  feast  of  the  Passover.  The  celebration  of  that 
feast  being  over,  they  had  started  upon  their  return 

Biblical  History  ana  Geography.  lO* 


226  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

in  company  with  crowds  of  those  who  were  passing 
along  the  only  highway  leading  northward  from  the 
city.  Jesus  had  stopped  at  the  Temple  and  was  con- 
versing with  the  learned  doctors,  or  teachers,  of  the 
Law. 

15.  The  peculiar  significaiicy  of  this  visit 
at  this  time  is  stated  in  Mai.  3:1,  and  it  was  the  first 
time  that  he  had  ever  referred  to  the  great  object  of 
his  divine  mission.  This  divine  mission  he  an- 
nounced to  his  mother  when  she,  having  sought  for 
and  found  him  in  the  Temple,  gently  reproved  him 
for  remaining  behind. 

From  this  time  to  that  when  he  entered  upon  his 
public  ministry  our  Saviour  remained  at  Nazareth, 
and  as  the  Scriptural  record  informs  us,  he  was  sub- 
ject to  his  parents  and  "  increased  in  wisdom  and  stat- 
ure and  in  favor  with  God  and  man,"  Luke  2:51,  52. 

THE   INTERIM. 

16.  Events  now  transpired  in  the  history  of 
the  Jews  which  are  important  to  a  full  understand- 
ing of  the  future  ministry  of  our  Saviour. 

It  is  evident,  in  accordance  with  the  ancient 
prophecy  by  Jacob  in  his  dying  hour,*  that  the 
"sceptre  had  departed  from  Judah,"  for  "  Shiloh  " 
had  come.  This  Shiloh  had  been  interpreted  in  all 
their  chief  commentaries  to  mean  the  Messiah. f 
These  commentaries  were  the  Targums  of  which 
we  have  written,  page  189,  note.      The  expression  in 

*  Gen.  49:10.  t  As  shown  in  Prideaux's  "Connection." 


BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  HIS  PUBLIC  MINISTRY.      22/ 

Mai.  3:1,  that  "he  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  tem- 
ple," appears  to  have  been  fulfilled  when  Jesus  visited 
the  Temple  as  spoken  of  already,  that  is,  when  at 
the  age  of  twelve  he  suddenly  appeared  asking  and 
answering  questions  of  the  astonished  doctors  of 
the  Law  in  whose  midst  he  sat,  Luke  2 :  47. 

THE   CHRISTIAN   ERA. 

17.  Before  we  proceed  it  is  necessary  that  we 
should  know  that  not  even  at  the  present  time  are 
we  fully  assured  as  to  the  exact  date  of  the  birth  of 
Christ.  It  is  generally  supposed  that  Dionysius 
Exiguus,  the  monk  who  introduced  in  A.  D.  527  the 
custom  of  dating  events  from  the  birth  of  Christ, 
mistook  the  time  of  that  event  by  exactly  four  years. 
That  is,  the  birth  took  place  four  years  before  the 
time  asserted  in  that  chronology  known  as  Anno 
Domini.  But  recent  discoveries  seem  to  prove  that 
the  true  statement  is  that  the  error  is  one  of  five 
years,  as  Prof.  Sattler  of  Munich  asserts  in  an  essay 
published  by  him  in  1883.  This  statement  he  bases 
upon  the  discovery  of  four  copper  coins  which  were 
struck  under  Herod  Antipas,  seeming  to  prove  that 
Christ  was  born  749  years  after  the  foundation  of 
Rome,  and  not,  as  usually  accepted,  754. 

But,  with  this  explanation,  we  shall  continue  to 
use  the  common  date,  while  we  keep  in  memory 
that  our  era  is  at  least  four  years  in  error,  so  that  the 
actual  birth  of  Christ  took  place  four  or  five  years 
before  A.  D.  i. 


228  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

THE   HERODS. 

18.  The  name  Herod  will  be  found  applied  to 
no  less  than  five  different  rulers  in  New  Testament 
times.  Their  dates  of  office  enable  us  frequently  to 
determine  the  dates  of  events  referred  to  in  the 
Scriptures. 

The  following  facts  are  all  that  are  necessary  to 
distinguish  the  Herods.  Herod  the  Great  had  five 
wives,  but  the  descendants  of  only  four  are  referred 
to  in  the  New  Testament,  as  follows : 

Herod  the  Great,  Matt.  2:1.  He  was  made  king 
by  Julius  Caesar,  B.  C.  37,  and  died  B.  C.  4,  that 
is,  before  the  common  era,  but  really  in  the  first 
year  of  Christ. 

He  had  two  sons  by  Malthace,  a  Samaritan, 
namely,  Herod  Antipas  and  Archelaus.  The  latter 
succeeded  him  after  some  delay,  but,  although  called 
king  by  the  people,  was  only  tetrarch,  with  the  prom- 
ise conditionally  made  that  he  should  be  king.  He 
was  deposed  through  complaint  of  his  atrocious 
cruelty,  and  banished  to  Vienna,  now  called  Lyons, 
where  he  died.* 

The  names  of  the  other  members  of  this  family 
of  Herods  may  be  seen  in  the  following  table. 

*  This  place  was  then  in  Gaul,  now  called  France. 


BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  HIS  PUBLIC  MINISTRY.      229 


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230  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

19.  The  Herods  mentioned  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment simply  by  the  name  "  Herod  "  are  three, 
(i)  Herod  the  Great. 

(2)  Herod  Antipas,  referred  to  in  Matt.  14: 1-12; 
Mark  6  :  14-29  ;  Luke  3  :  i,  19,  20 ;  8  : 3  ;  9 :  7-9  123:7- 
12,  15;  Acts  4:  27;  called  "  the  king  "  in  Matt.  14:9; 
Mark  6:  22,  25-27  ;  and  "king  Herod  "  in  Mark  6: 14. 
He  was  son  of  Herod  the  Great,  as  was  the  Herod 
for  whom  Herodias  left  her  husband.  Therefore 
John  the  Baptist  reproved  him  for  taking  for  a  wife 
Herodias,  and  she,  because  of  her  hatred  of  the  Bap- 
tist for  this  reproof,  moved  her  daughter  Salome  to 
ask,  as  her  reward  for  pleasing  Herod  (Antipas)  by 
her  dancing,  that  he  would  present  her  with  the 
head  of  John  in  a  platter. 

(3)  Herod  Agrippa  I.,  Acts  12:1-23.  The  sick- 
ness referred  to  in  this  passage  occurred  A.  D.  44. 
He  was  grandson  of  Herod  the  Great. 

Others  of  this  family  of  Herods  are  mentioned  in 
Scripture,  but  not  by  the  name  of  Herod,  as  in  the 
case  of 

(4)  Philip  I.,  of  Matt.  14:3;  Mark  6:17;  Luke 
3:19.  In  the  table  he  is  marked  Philip  L,  but  only  to 
distinguish  him  from  his  brother  of  the  same  name, 
Herod  Philip.  But  Philip  I.  lived  in  private  station 
and  is  only  mentioned  as  the  husband  of  Herodias, 
as  recorded  in  the  passage  just  given. 

(5)  Philip  n.,  of  Luke  3:1,  is  called  "tetrarch  of 
Itursea  and  of  the  region  of  Trachonitis."  It  was 
after  this  Philip  that  Caesarea  Philippi,  at  the  foot 


BIRTH  OF  CHRIST  TO  HIS  PUBLIC  MINISTRY.      23 1 

of  Mt.  Hermon,  received  its  name,  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  other  Caesarea,  on  the  coast  south  of  Mt. 
Carmel,  the  latter  being  called  Caesarea  Palestina. 
He  was  also  called  Herod,  but  in  Scripture  only- 
Philip.  He  married  Salome  the  daughter  of  Hero- 
dias,  his  niece,  the  young  woman  referred  to  in  Matt. 
14:6.  He  was  a  son  of  Herod  the  Great,  as  was 
Philip  I. 

(6)  Agrippa,  of  Acts  25  and  26,  is  also  called  king 
Agrippa  in  the  New  Testament,  a  title  given  him  by 
Claudius,  the  Roman  emperor,  A.  D.  52. 

20.  Of  the  females  of  the  Herodian  family, 
four  are  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  Hero- 
dias,  Salome,  Bernice,  and  Drusilla.  Salome  is  not 
named,  but  simply  called  "  the  daughter  of  Herodias." 
Herodias  is  mentioned  in  Matt.  14:  3- 11  and  in  Mark 
and  Luke,  where  the  same  incident  is  recorded. 
Bernice  (or  Berenice)  was  niece  of  Herodias  and 
married  her  uncle,  Herod  king  of  Chalcis,  who  died 
A.  D.  48.  She  then  lived  with  her  brother  Agrippa 
n.  Drusilla  was  sister  of  Bernice  and  was  married 
to  Azizus,  king  of  Emessa  in  Syria,  now  Homs ;  but 
at  the  persuasion  of  Felix  she  left  her  husband  and 
married  Felix,  who  was  procurator  of  Judaea,  accord- 
ing to  Josephus.  He  was  succeeded  by  Porcius 
Festus  about  61  or  62  A.  D.,  having  been  accused 
of  great  cruelty  after  his  departure  to  Rome.  The 
scene  described  in  Acts  23  and  24  occurred  just  be- 
fore his  visit  to  Rome,  and  that  in  Acts  25  and  26 
soon  after.     Felix  had  driven  out  the  banditti  and 


232  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

impostors  from  the  country,  and  to  this  Tertullus  al- 
ludes in  his  address  as  given  in  Acts  24 :  2. 

IDUM^A. 

31.  Before  the  Captivity  of  the  Jews  to  Bab- 
ylon the  name  Idumaea  designated  the  land  east  of 
the  great  valley  Arabah  which  runs  south  of  the 
Dead  Sea  to  the  Red  Sea.  Petra  was  its  capital. 
But  during  the  Captivity  the  Idumaeans  gradually 
extended  their  settlements  to  that  part  of  Judaea 
south  of  Jerusalem,  including  Hebron.  After  the 
return  from  Babylon,  the  Idumaeans  became  the 
enemies  of  the  Jews  until  the  time  of  the  Maccabees, 
when  they  were  conquered  and  required  either  to 
leave  the  country  or  change  their  religion  for  that 
of  the  Jews.  They  chose  the  latter  alternative  un- 
der John  Hyrcanus,  about  B.  C.  130,  and  were  gov- 
erned by  Jewish  prefects. 

When,  therefore,  Antipater  the  father  of  Herod 
the  Great,  and  Herod  himself,  are  said  to  be  "  Idu- 
maeans," the  allusion  is  to  this  district  south  of  Ju- 
daea, which  was  at  that  time  called  Idumaea.  This  is 
the  Greek  term  for  Edom.  The  name  is  used,  Isa. 
34:5,6,  in  the  former  sense,  namely,  of  the  country 
east  of  the  Arabah,  before  the  Captivity ;  but  in  Ezek. 
36 :  5  in  the  sense  used  after  the  Captivity,  and  in 
the  latter  sense  also  in  Mark  3 : 8. 


THE   PUBLIC   MINISTRY   OF   OUR   SAVIOUR.        2'^^ 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   PUBLIC   MINISTRY   OF   OUR  SAVIOUR. 

1.  As   soon   as  Jesus  arrived  at  the  age 

of  about  thirty  he  left  Nazareth,  and  probably  pass- 
ing down  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  went  on  his  way 
to  Bethabara,  John  i :  28. 

BETHABARA. 

2.  John,  the  forerunner  of  Jesus,  was  bap- 
tizing at  this  place,  the  site  of  which  is  not  known, 
but  from  the  meaning  of  the  name,  '*  the  house  of  the 
ferry,  or  ford,"  it  must  have  been  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan.  Moreover  as  John  was  preaching  in  Judaea, 
Matt.  3:1,  and  apparently  baptizing  in  the  parts  of 
Jordan  near  at  hand,  Bethabara  must  have  been  not 
far  off  from  the  locality  now  identified  with  it, 
namely,  somewhere  east  of  the  present  plain  of  Jer- 
icho, but  from  John  3 :  26  it  is  plain  that  the  place 
was  "beyond,"  that  is  east  of  Jordan.  The  name 
Beth-barah  of  Judg.  7 :  24  may  refer  to  another  place 
farther  up  the  Jordan,  as  the  word  "  ford  "  may  have 
been  then,  as  it  is  now,  applied  to  several  places. 

THE   WILDERNESS. 

3.  After  the  baptism  of  Jesus  by  John  the 
Baptist  at  Bethabara  he  was  immediately  subjected 


234  BIBLICAL   HISTORY  AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

to  several  very  severe  spiritual  trials  called  tempta- 
tions of  the  devil,  Matt.  4:1.  These  temptations 
were  preceded  by  a  period  of  fasting  which  contin- 
ued forty  days,  after  which  the  attacks  of  the  evil 
spirit  took  place  as  recorded  in  Matt.  4,  Mark  i,  and 
Luke  4,  but  omitted  by  John. 

4.  "  The  wilderness  "  was  probably  the  unin- 
habited country  west  of  the  northern  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  a  region  which  seems  never  to  have  been 
settled ;  and  the  immediate  scene  of  the  temptation 
is  celebrated  in  tradition  as  that  rough  and  hilly 
ridge  west  of  the  plain  of  Jericho  called  by  the 
Latin  Church  Quarantania. 

DISCIPLES   AND   APOSTLES. 

5.  Soon  after  his  triumphant  victory  over  the 
devil  in  the  temptations  our  Saviour  gained  some  of 
his  disciples  and  departed  from  this  region  to  Galilee. 

It  is  plain  from  the  first  chapter  of  the  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  John  that  the  Baptist  was  near  the  re- 
gion of  our  Saviour's  trial  by  the  temptations,  and  was 
left  behind  when  Jesus  and  Andrew,  Simon  Peter 
and  Philip,  the  new  disciples,  left  for  Galilee.  These 
were  added  to  James  and  John  afterward  in  Galilee, 
Luke  5:10;  and  to  others,  who  though  now  believers, 
and  called  simply  disciples,  constituted  afterward 
that  band  of  twelve  who  are  distinguished  by  the 
more  important  name  of  apostles,  that  is,  envoys, 
or  messengers. 

6.  Of  these,   Andrew  was  the  first  to  follow 


THE   rUBLIC   MINISTRY   OF   OUR   SAVIOUR.        235 

Jesus.  The  others  were  Simon,  called  Peter,  James 
and  his  brother  John,  Philip,  Bartholomew,  Thomas, 
Matthew,  called  also  Levi,  Simon  the  Zealot,  Leb- 
basus,  surnamed  Thaddaeus,  called  also  Judas,  or 
Jude,  James,  called  "  the  less "  to  distinguish  him 
from  the  other  James,  called  "the  greater,"  and 
Judas  Iscariot,  who  betrayed  Him,  and  who,  when 
he  hung  himself,  was  replaced  by  Matthias,  Acts 
I  :  15-26. 

THE  GENERAL  ORDER  OF  EVENTS.   CANA. 

7.  After  liis  baptism  in  the  Jordan  and  de- 
parture to  Galilee,  the  first  event  which  brought  him 
before  the  great  Jewish  public  took  place  at  Cana  of 
Galilee. 

CANA   OF   GALILEE,   JOHN    2  :  II. 

Some  variance  of  oi^inion  seems  to  exist  as 
regards  the  identification  of  this  place.  There  are 
two  places,  each  of  which  is  pointed  out  as  the  Cana 
of  the  Gospel.  One  is  eight  miles  due  north  of  Naz- 
areth and  the  other  three  and  a  half  miles  northeast 
of  it.  The  one  is  on  the  north  side  of  an  extensive 
plain  and  is  entirely  in  ruins,  while  the  other  is  now 
an  inhabited  village.  Early  tradition  seems  to  claim 
the  former,  but  the  latter  is  now,  and  appears  always 
to  have  been,  on  the  direct  line  to  Capernaum  and 
the  Sea  of  Galilee  from  Nazareth,  and  it  may  be  due 
to  this  fact  that  many  have  supposed  it  to  be  the 
Cana  of  the  Gospel.      But  the  names  are  not  exactly 


236  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

alike,  the  former  having  been  for  many  centuries 
called  Kana  of  Galilee  and  the  latter  only  Kenna. 
The  ruins  show  that  the  former  was  a  much  finer 
village  than  the  latter  in  every  way,  and  had  a  Ro- 
man road  on  its  south  connecting  the  Mediterranean 
with  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  It  is  probable,  therefore, 
that  it  was  at  this  Cana  that  two  of  our  Lord's  mir- 
acles were  performed  as  stated  in  John  2:11  and 
4:46-54. 


THE   FIRST  PASSOVER  TO   THE   SECOND.  237 

CHAPTER    III. 

FROM   THE  FIRST   PASSOVER  TO   THE   SECOND. 

1.  As  is  generally  supposed,  the  first  miracle, 
at  Cana,  was  performed  during  the  first  year  of  our 
Lord's  public  ministry.  His  attendance  upon  the 
first  Passover  at  Jerusalem  brings  us  to  consider  the 
state  of  the  city  at  the  time  of  his  visit. 

At  the  great  event  of  a  Passover  the  city  would 
be  crowded  with  visitors,  not  only  from  Judaea  and 
the  surrounding  country,  but  from  distant  lands. 
At  this  time  the  Jews  were  scattered  over  almost 
every  province  under  Roman  control,  and  even  be- 
yond the  Roman  Empire. 

Josephus  informs  us  that  for  these  occasions  im- 
mense preparations  were  made,  not  only  to  accom- 
modate the  people,  but  also  that  they  might  bring 
with  them  their  flocks,  and  he  estimates  that  at  the 
Passover  celebrated  in  the  time  of  Nero  the  number 
of  lambs  sacrificed  was  256,500.* 

2.  The  presence  of  Jews  from  so  many  coun- 
tries would  of  necessity  bring  into  the  city  not  only 
purchasers,  but  tradesmen  with  various  moneys  re- 
quiring an  exchange  or  brokerage ;  and  some  of  the 
Rabbinical  writers  say  that  an  immense  traffic  was 
carried  on  in  cattle  and  other  animals  for  victims 

*  "Wars  of  the  Jews,"  VI.,  ^^9:3. 


238  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

and  for  food,  and  much  extortion  was  practised,  a 
great  part  of  the  profits  of  which  went  to  the 
priests.* 

It  was  on  this  occasion  of  his  first  Passover  that 
our  Saviour  drove  out  the  sheep  and  oxen  and  upset 
the  tables  of  the  exchangers,  as  recorded  in  John 
2:15,  using  the  material  with  which  the  animals 
were  bound  for  a  whip  or  scourge. 

3.  From  the  very  evident  divine  power  which  the 
Saviour  exhibited  at  this  Passover,  a  member  of  the 
Sanhedrin,  Nicodemus,  sought  an  iiitervieiY  with 
him  at  night,  John  3,  at  which  time  Christ  made  the 
announcement  of  his  special  mission  to  this  world  in 
those  remarkable  words :  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of 
man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life,"  John  3  :  14, 1 5. 

4.  The  Passover  being-  ended,  Jesus  left  Jeru- 
salem, but  seems  to  have  remained  in  Judaea  near 
the  Jordan,  perhaps  on  the  plain  at  the  north  end  of 
the  Dead  Sea.  John  was  baptizing  in  the  same 
region.  It  must  have  been  somewhere  on  these 
plains  that  Herod  Antipas  met  the  Baptist  and  re- 
ceived the  reproof  of  which  we  have  spoken  before. 
This  Herodf  was  the  ruler  of  Galilee  and  Peraja,  and 
was  at  first  married  to  the  daughter  of  Aretas,  king 
of  Arabia  Petraea,  but  forsook  her  for  Herodias,  the 

*■  Bloomfield,  John  2:14,  note. 

t  Herod   Antipas,  son   of  Herod  the   Great  by  Malthace.    See  the 
Table,  p.  229. 


THE   FIRST   TASSOVER   TO   THE   SECOND.  239 

wife  of  his  half-brother  (see  preceding  table).  This 
brought  on  a  war  with  Aretas  on  the  confines  of  his 
territory  on  the  south,  and  it  is  probable  that  on  his 
way  to  meet  Aretas  Herod  received  the  reproof  from 
the  Baptist  and  condemned  the  latter  to  imprison- 
ment in  his  castle  at  Machaerus. 

MACH.ERUS   AND   PER.EA. 

5.  This  castle  was  seven  miles  east  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  and  the  ruins  remain  at  a  place  about  25  miles 
south  of  the  north  end  of  the  sea.  It  is  3,800  feet 
above  its  level  and  2,507  feet  above  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Josephus  says  that  John  the  Baptist  was 
imprisoned  here,  and  here  he  must  have  been  be- 
headed. The  region  of  Peraea  extended  from  this 
place  to  Pella,  near  the  Jordan,  about  60  miles  north, 
and  Herod  Antipas  was  at  that  time  ruler  of  all  Gal- 
ilee and  Peraea,  which  included  the  castle  Machaerus. 

ENON   AND    SALIM. 

6.  During   the   Saviour's    stay    iu   Judaea, 

after  the  Passover  just  spoken  of,  it  appears  that  he 
remained  for  a  time  near  the  Jordan  while  his  disci- 
ples baptized.  The  two  preachers  were  therefore 
not  far  distant  from  each  other,  and  the  disciples  of 
John,  evidently  with  a  spirit  of  rivalry,  communica- 
ted the  fact  that  greater  crowds  attended  the  minis- 
try of  Jesus. 

This  brought  out  the  testimony  of  John  to  the 
greater  glory  and  future  progress  of  the  gospel  of 


240  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Jesus.  John  was  at  this  time  at  "  Enon  near  Salim," 
and  the  sites  of  these  two  places  have  not  yet  been 
settled. 

Enon  is  the  Greek  form  of  the  Aramaic  word  for 
"  springs,"  and  Salim  is  the  word  for  "  peace,"  and 
both  of  these  words  are  frequently  found  in  varying" 
forms  in  several  places. 

It  has  been  thought  that  the  little  village  now 
called  Salim,  not  far  east  of  Shechem,  was  the  site 
of  the  Scripture  Salim,  and  that  Enon  was  to  be  iden- 
tified with  a  little  ruin  called  Ainun,  nearly  eight 
miles  northeast.  But  apart  from  the  fact  that  these 
places  are  not  near  each  other,  they  are  entirely  too 
near  the  very  heart  of  the  Samaritan  district,  Salim 
being  only  four  miles  east  of  Shechem. 

It  is  not  at  all  probable  that  John  ever  left  Judaea, 
and  it  is  exceedingly  improbable  that  he  would  have 
gone  into  the  Samaritan  region  to  baptize.  There 
is  a  little  valley  three  or  four  miles  northeast  of 
Jerusalem  which  yet  bears  a  name  somewhat  similar 
to  Salim,  where  there  are  waters  described  by  Dr. 
Barclay ;  but  neither  of  these  Biblical  places  has 
yet  been  satisfactorily  identified. 

7.  Our  Saviour  now  left  Judaea  and  passed 
to  Galilee  upon  the  shortest  road,  which  leads 
through  Samaria,  John  4 :  3.  The  season  seems  to 
have  been  in  December,  John  4:35,  as  it  was  "four 
months  to  harvest,"  which  began  in  April.  On  the 
way  he  sat  down  upon  the  well  called  Jacob's,  and 
the  scene  described  in  John  4  took  place. 


THE   FIRST   PASSOVER   TO   THE    SECOND.  241 

JACOB'S   WELL,  SYCHAR,  John  4. 

8.  Jacob's  well  has  always  been  identified  with 
that  well  cut  in  the  solid  rock  which  is  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  east  by  south  from  Shechem.  It  formerly 
had  a  small  chapel  built  over  it,  in  the  fourth  century, 
and  was  about  80  feet  in  depth  when  examined  by 
the  writer,  but  the  original  depth  must  have  been 
greater,  for  there  are  many  stones  at  the  bottom.  It 
is  not  now  a  well  of  constant  supply,  but  varies  with 
the  season,  and  was  dry  when  we  examined  it.  Hence 
perhaps  the  remark  of  our  Saviour,  John  4:10,  in 
which  he  alludes  to  "  living  water." 

Sychar  was  probably  at  the  little  village  now 
called  Askar,  about  one-half  of  a  mile  northeast  from 
the  well.  Some  have  supposed  that  Sychar  and 
Shechem  were  the  same  ;  but  it  is  not  probable  that 
the  woman  spoken  of  in  the  context  would  have 
walked  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Shechem,  where  there 
was  an  abundance  of  water,  to  draw  water  from  this 
deep  well.  The  probabilities  are  that  Askar  was  the 
site  of  Sychar,  where  there  are  caves  and  remains 
of  ancient  tombs. 

MATT.  4:  12-17;    MARK  I  :  14,   15  ;    LUKE  4. 

9.  Jesus  passed  througli  Samaria  to  Galilee, 
stopping  for  a  short  time  in  Nazareth,  Matt.  13:53- 
58 ;  and  then  going  to  Capernaum,  announced  as  he 
went  the  great  object  of  his  mission,  and  especially 
that  the  appointed  time  had  arrived  which  had  been 

nihlinil  llirtlory  aii.l  Oen  ■mpliy.  I  I 


242  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

foretold  for  the  appearance  of  the  Messiah  as  spoken 
of  in  the  prophets,  Mark  i  :  14,  15.  That  he  himself 
was  this  Messiah  he  distinctly  asserted  at  Jacob's 
well  to  the  Samaritan  woman,  John  4 :  26. 

10.  Passing  on  from  Nazareth  he  again  vis- 
ited Cana,  where  the  miracle  of  the  healing  of  the 
nobleman's  son  was  performed,  John  4 :  46-54.  He 
then  went  down  to  Capernaum,  which  hereafter 
seems  to  have  been  adopted  as  his  favorite  place  of 
abode. 

CAPERNAUM. 

11.  This  place  has  not  yet  been  certainly  iden- 
tified. Some  have  supposed  that  it  was  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  at  a  place  called  Khan  Min- 
yeh,  which  is  on  the  plain  of  Gennesaret,  five  miles 
southwest  of  the  mouth  of  the  Upper  Jordan  ;  others 
have  located  it  at  a  ruin  farther  north  of  this  sea, 
called  Tell  Hum.  To  some  this  name  seems  to  be 
all  that  remains  of  the  ancient  name  Capernaum, 
which,  as  they  think,  means  the  village  (caper)  of 
Nahum  (Naum). 

At  Capernaum  many  of  our  Saviour's  miracles 
were  performed,  and  the  place  is  referred  to  sixteen 
times  by  name. 

12.  A  miracle  performed  here  at  this  time  in  the 
history  confirmed  the  faith  of  Andrew,  Peter,  James, 
and  John,  who  were  fishing  in  the  waters  of  the  sea 
not  far  off  from  the  village,  Luke  5  :  i-ii. 

Soon  after  this  the  restoring  of  the  demoniac  to 
his  senses  in  the  synagogue  took  place,  Luke  4 :  33, 


THE   FIRST   PASSOVER   TO   THE   SECOND.  243 

and  immediately  after  this  the  healing  of  Peter's 
wife's  mother,  as  recorded  in  the  same  chapter. 
Many  other  miracles  were  performed  the  same  even- 
ing. 

13.  Jesus  then  beg-an  to  travel  throughout 
Galilee,  preaching  and  healing.  One  miracle  on  this 
journey  is  recorded,  that  of  healing  a  leper,  as  narra- 
ted in  Matt.  8:2;  Mark  1:40;  Luke  5:12.  On  his 
return  to  Capernaum  he  heals  a  paralytic.  Matt.  9:2; 
Mark  2  :  1-12  ;  Luke  5:18. 

In  the  narrative  of  this  last-mentioned  miracle  we 
have  an  illustration  of  the  use  of  double  names  among 
the  Jews,  for  Matthew,  9 : 9,  calls  himself  Matthew, 
whereas  the  other  evangelists  in  their  accounts  called 
him  Levi,"'^  and  moreover  Matthew  adopts  the  usual 
method  of  Greek  historians  in  speaking  of  themselves 
in  the  third  person  to  avoid  egotism.  Compare  Matt. 
9:10;  Mark  2:15;  Luke  5  :  29. 

•■■  Bloomfield,  Notes  in  Matt.  9:9. 


244  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   SECOND   PASSOVER  AND   THE   TRANSACTIONS   UN- 
TIL  THE   THIRD    PASSOVER.      TIME   ONE   YEAR. 

THE  POOL  OF  BETHESDA,  John  5:2. 

1.  Very  recent  discoveries  have  led  to  the 
belief  that  this  pool  was  not  at  the  so-called  Birket 
Israel  on  the  left  hand  of  the  entrance  through  the 
gate  of  St.  Stephen — the  eastern  gate  of  Jerusalem — 
but  on  the  right  hand  of  the  same  entrance  at  the 
French  church  of  St.  Anne.  It  is  about  i6o  feet  on 
the  right  of  the  gate  as  you  enter  into  the  city. 
Here  there  has  recently  (1888)  been  discovered  a 
tank  in  the  reck  under  the  church,  reached  by  a 
flight  of  24  steps,  and  more  recently  a  twin  pool  by 
its  side,  which  is  supposed  to  identify  the  place,  ac- 
cording to  early  writers.  The  remains  of  the  five 
porches  are  still  to  be  seen.* 

2.  In  his  attendance  upon  the  second  Passover 
Jesus  performed  the  miracle  of  healing"  at  the 
crowded  pool  of  Bethesda,  but  left  with  the  man 
whom  he  had  restored  no  name  or  clew  whereby 
he  should  know  him.  Soon  after  however,  meeting 
the  man  in  the  Temple,  Jesus  warned  him  as  to  his 
future  life ;  and  thus  the  healed  man  was  informed, 
and  he  reported  to  those  who  inquired  of  him  the 

*  Quarterly  Statement  of  the  Palestine  Exploration. 


THE   SECOND   PASSOVER   TO   THE   THH^D.         245 

name  of  his  benefactor.  This  act  of  healing  was 
performed  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  the  consequent 
command  of  Jesus,  "  Take  up  thy  bed  and  walk," 
was  made  the  occasion  of  bitter  resentment  on  the 
part  of  the  Jews.  This  gave  the  opportunity  to  our 
Lord  for  uttering  one  of  the  most  distinct  avowals  of 
his  equality  with  God  as  his  Father,  and  the  asser- 
tion that  their  own  Jewish  Scriptures  testified  of 
him.     He  then  departed  for  Galilee. 

HISTORICAL  OCCURRENCES  OF  THIS  YEAR  IN  THE 
ORDER  OF  TIME,  WITH  THE  HARMONY  OF  REFER- 
ENCES AND   LOCALITIES. 

3.  Oil  the  way  to  Galilee.  The  disciples 
pluck  ears  of  corn  on  the  Sabbath,  Matt.  12:1;  Mark 
2:23;  Luke  6. 

In  Galilee.  The  healing  of  the  withered  hand 
on  the  Sabbath,  Matt.  12:9;  Mark  3:1;  Luke  6 : 6. 

Immediately  after  the  last  mentioned  miracle  he 
retired  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  the  greatness  of  the 
interest  manifested  in  him  can  be  understood  by  the 
extent  of  country  from  which  the  crowds  came,  as 
indicated  in  Mark  3  : 7,  8,  for  it  appears  that  the  peo- 
ple came  not  only  from  Galilee,  but  "  from  Judaea 
and  from  Jerusalem  and  Idumaea  and  from  the  east 
of  Jordan  and  from  around  Tyre  and  Sidon." 

4.  Near  Geuuesaret.  Jesus  chooses  the  twelve 
apostles,  Matt.  10:  i  ;  Mark  3:  13;  alluded  to  again, 
Mark  6 :  7.  This  he  did  after  a  night  spent  in  prayer 
on  a  mountain,  Luke   6:12,   13.      This  transaction 


246  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

seems  to  have  taken  place  on  some  one  of  the  hills 
south  of  the  plain  of  Gennesaret,  while  on  his  way 
to  Capernaum. 

5.  Near  Gennesaret.  The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  and  a  probable  repetition  of  a  part  on  the 
plain  of  Gennesaret,  as  narrated  in  Luke  6:17;  Matt. 
5.  In  this  and  the  following  chapters  St.  Matthew 
has  gathered  a  large  collection  of  the  precepts  and 
teachings  of  Jesus  which  occurred  at  this  time,  but 
which  are  only  in  part  narrated  in  Luke. 

6.  Same  place.  The  Lord's  Prayer  as  narra- 
ted in  Matthew,  and  probably  repeated  upon  another 
occasion,  as  seen  in  Luke  11  :  i . 

7.  Capernaum.  The  centurion's  servant  healed, 
Matt.  8:5  ;  Luke  7:  i. 

Nain.  The  widow's  son  raised  from  the  bier 
upon  which  he  was  carried,  Luke  7:11. 

8.  This  place  was  59  miles  north  of  Jerusalem 
and  20  miles  southwest  of  the  plain  of  Gennesaret. 
En-dor  is  two  miles  northeast  of  it  on  the  same  north- 
ern flank  of  the  ridge.  The  scenery  is  very  beauti- 
ful towards  the  north  and  west,  and  suggests  the 
fitness  of  the  name,  which  means  "beauty."  Imme- 
diately south,  one  mile  distant,  the  mountain  range 
rises  to  the  height  of  i  ,690  feet  above  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  on  the  northern  flank  of  this  range  the 
village  is  built,  itself  at  the  height  of  744  feet.  It 
overlooks  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon.  The  only 
reference  to  this  place  is  found  in  Luke  7  :  11-17. 

9.  In  Galilee.     John  the  Baptist  while  in  prison 


THE   SECOND    PASSOVER   TO   THE   THIRD.         247 

sends  messengers  to  Jesus,  Matt.  11:2;  Luke  7:19. 
Jesus  had  now  performed  a  large  part  of  his  life's 
work,  and  in  some  degree  he  now  reviews  it  and 
in  several  places  sums  up  the  amount  done.  He 
reviews  also  the  instances  in  which  he  had  been 
unsuccessful  in  persuading  some  to  believe  upon  his 
mission  and  accept  him  as  the  true  Messiah.  In  this 
review  he  mentions  Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  and  Caper- 
naum, and  compares  their  advantages  with  those 
enjoyed  by  Tyre  and  Sidon. 

CHORAZIN  AND  BETHSAIDA,  Matt.  II  :2i  ;  Luke  ID:  13. 

10.  The  site  of  the  former  of  these  places  is 
unknown.  Excepting  the  similarity  of  the  names, 
Kerazeh  and  Chorazin,  we  have  nothing  to  show 
that  the  ruin  called  by  the  former  name  is  identical 
with  the  place  known  in  Scripture  by  the  latter 
name.  The  ruin  called  Kerazeh  is  two  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  northern  shore  of  the  lake  and  about 
900  feet  higher  than  its  surface.  The  ruins  of  a  sup- 
posed synagogue  are  to  be  found  there,  and  near 
them  is  a  spring. 

Against  this  supposed  site  of  Chorazin  it  is  said 
that  Jerome'^  speaks  of  it  as  one  of  the  cities  which 
were  upon  the  shores  of  the  lake.  In  reply  it  is  said 
the  traveller  Willibald,  going  northward  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighth  century,  says  that  he  went 
from  Tiberias  by  Magdala,  now  called  Me j del,  to 
Capernaum,  thence  to  Bethsaida,  thence  to  Chorazin, 

*  Died  A.  D.  420. 


248  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

and  thence  to  the  fountains  of  the  Jordan,*  so  that 
the  order  of  localities  thus  stated  makes  Chorazin 
probably  off  the  lake.f  Kerazeh  appears  to  answer 
to  all  that  the  Scripture  claims  for  Chorazin  both 
in  name  and  locality. 

11.  As  to  Bethsaida,  there  are  supposed  to  have 
been  two  of  this  name,  which  means  "  fish-house ;" 
the  one  is  just  east  of  the  Jordan,  about  a  mile  above 
the  place  where  it  empties  into  the  northern  end  of 
the  lake.  This  was  the  eastern  Bethsaida,  and  at 
about  this  period  of  our  Saviour's  life  Herod  Philip, 
the  tetrarch,  had  greatly  enlarged  and  beautified  the 
place  and  given  it  the  name  "  Julias  "  in  honor  of 
the  daughter  of  Augustus;  and  here  he  was  buried, 
A.  D.  33,  in  a  costly  tomb  which  he  had  erected  for 
himself. 

It  was  near  this  Bethsaida  that  Jesus  fed  the  five 
thousand  with  the  five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  and 
after  dismissing  the  crowd  retired  into  one  of  the 
neighboring  hills  to  pray4 

13.  Place  uncertain,  probably  Capernaum. 
At  the  house  of  Simon  the  Pharisee,  while  "at 
meat,"  Christ's  feet  are  anointed  by  a  woman  who  is 
•called  "  a  sinner,"  Luke  7  :  36.  Another  anointing  by 
a  woman  took  place  at  a  much  later  period,  and  per- 
haps a  third  just  before  his  betrayal,  John  11:2; 
12:2.     Anointing  was  very  common  in  those  days. 

*  Murray's  "  Handbook,"  1875,  p.  40S. 

t  Baedeker's  "  Palestine  and  Syria,"  p.  374. 

t  Merrill,  "  Galilee  in  the  time  of  Christ,"  p.  48. 


THE   SECOND    PASSOVER   TO   THE   THIRD.         249 

The  so-called  alabaster-box  was  not  necessarily  of  any 
one  material,  mucli  less  of  the  material  known  now 
as  alabaster.  The  same  Greek  term  is  used  by  He- 
rodotus* in  exactly  the  same  form  used  in  Matt.  26 : 7  ; 
Mark  14:3;  Luke  7:37,  and  the  vessel  might  have 
been  of  marble,  of  glass,  or  metal.f  Theocritus;}: 
writes  of  "  golden  alabasters  filled  with  Syrian  oint- 
ments." 

It  was  customary  to  anoint  the  head  and  also  the 
feet  of  a  guest  on  certain  occasions,  and  the  alabas- 
tron  was  common  among  persons  of  means.  There 
is  therefore  no  sufficient  reason  to  suppose  that  this 
anointing  was  so  rare  an  instance  that  the  several 
accounts  in  the  Gospels  refer  to  only  one  event.  The 
other  accounts  besides  that  referred  to  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  section  are  found  in  Matt.  26 : 6 ;  Mark 
14:3,  which  appear  to  describe  one  and  the  same 
occasion,  shortly  before  his  betrayal,  and  John  11:2; 
12:2,  which  description  is  somewhat  similar  to  that 
of  the  preceding  Gospels. 

13.  Galilee.  Our  Saviour  makes  visits  with  the 
twelve  through  Galilee  the  second  time.  Luke  8:1. 
This  seems  to  have  been  in  Galilee,  judging  from  the 
context  as  compared  with  Matt.  12:46;  Mark  3:  31, 
and  following  verses  in  the  next  chapter.  He  seems 
to  have  visited  extensively,  as  the  Greek  phrase, 
"  city  by  city  and  village  by  village,"  signifies. 

*  Herodotus,  3:20,  and  Athen.,  p.  268. 
t  Bloomfield,  "  Notes,"  Matt.  26:7. 

t  Idyll  15,  line  114;  Parkhurst,  Lex.,  5  ;  Bloomfield,  Luke  8:1. 

II* 


250  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

14.  The  following  incidents  are  supposed  to  have 
taken  place  about  this  time  and  in  the  following 
order,  all  in  Galilee  : 

(i.)  The  healing  of  the  demoniac,  Matt.  12  :  22.  A 
somewhat  similar  case  occurred  before,  Matt.  9 :  32. 
In  this  passage  the  utterances  of  our  Saviour  define 
the  solemnity  of  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  a 
most  fearful  sense,  and  again  in  Mark  3  :  28,  29.  This 
healing  is  repeated,  Luke  11:14. 

(2.)  The  scribes  and  Pharisees  seek  from  him  a 
sign  to  prove  his  authority.  Matt.  12:38;  repeated 
with  additional  remarks.  Matt.  15:1;  also  Mark 
8:11;  and  more  urgently  in  John  6:31.  It  was  in 
reply  to  one  of  these  requests  that  Jesus  announced 
that  the  sign  superior  to  all  others  should  take  place 
after  his  death,  for  that  after  death  he  should  rise 
again  on  the  third  day.  Matt.  1 2 :  40,  drawing  from 
the  history  of  Jonah  an  illustration  of  his  own  burial 
for  three  days  only. 

(3.)  The  declaration  that  his  true  disciples  were  his 
nearest  relatives,  Matt.  1 2  :  46  ;  Mark  3:31;  Luke  8:19. 

(4.)  Jesus  takes  dinner  with  a  Pharisee  and  de- 
nounces the  sect,  Luke  u  :  37. 

(5.)  Jesus  instructs  a  multitude  when  he  declares 
that  whosoever  shall  confess  him  before  men  shall 
be  confessed  by  him  before  the  angels  of  God,  Luke 
12  :  I. 

15.  By  the  lake,  (i.)  The  parable  of  the  sower, 
Matt.  13:3;  Mark  4:2;  Luke  8  : 4. 

(2.)  The  parable  of  the  tares,  Matt.  1 3  :  24. 


THE   SECOND   PASSOVER   TO   THE   THIRD.         2$  I 

(3.)  Sea  of  Galilee.  Jesus  calms  the  tempest, 
Matt.  8  :  24-27  ;  Mark  4 :  37-41  ;  Luke  8  :  22-25. 

(4.)  He  heals  the  demoniacs  of  the  country  of  the 
Gergesenes,  stilling  the  tempest  by  a  word  as  he 
crosses,  Matt.  8:23;  Mark  5:1;  Luke  8 :  26. 

GADARA,   GERGESA. 

16.  The  location  of  Gadara  (pronounced  Gad'- 
ara)  was  at  the  present  Um  Keis,  where  the  ruins  are 
extensive  and  four  fine  springs  exist.  Um  Keis  is 
seven  miles  southeast  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  upon  the 
level  surface  of  a  steep  hill.  It  is  thought  that  the 
term  Gadarenes  referred  to  the  general  region  of 
which  Gadara  was  the  capital,  and  Gergesenes  to  the 
town  of  Gergesa,  on  the  lake,  where  the  miracle  oc- 
curred, and  which  belonged  to  the  district  of  the 
Gadarenes. 

Gadara  is  first  mentioned  in  secular  history  when 
captured  by  Antiochus  the  Great,  B.  C.  218.  It  was 
taken  by  the  Jews  twenty  years  afterwards,  but  de- 
stroyed during  their  civil  wars,  and  rebuilt  by  Pom- 
pey  to  please  his  freedman,  who  was  a  Gadarene. 
When  the  proconsul  of  Syria,  Gabinius,  changed  the 
constitution  of  Judsea,  dividing  it  into  five  districts 
having  governing  councils,  Gadara  was  made  the  seat 
of  one  of  these  councils,  and  became  a  chief  city  or 
capital  of  the  country  around. 

It  is  probable  that  Gergesa  is  properly  identified 
in  the  ruin  Kersa  on  the  east  shore  of  the  Lake  of 
Gennesaret,  almost  equi-distant  from  the  north  and 


252     *        BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

the  south,  ends.  It  was  once  surrounded  by  a  wall, 
the  ruins  of  which  still  remain.  Just  south  of  it  the 
hills  come  down  very  precipitously  into  the  water,  as 
they  do  in  no  other  place  on  the  shore,  Mark  5:1; 
Luke  8  :  26  ;  Matt.  8  :  28. 

17.  Capernaum.  The  feast  given  to  our  Lord 
by  Levi,  who  is  also  called  Matthew,  takes  place  at 
this  time,  Matt.  9:10;  Mark  2:15;  Luke  5  :  29. 

The  raising  of  Jairus'  daughter,  and  the  healing 
of  the  woman  who  touched  the  hem  of  his  garment, 
Matt.  9 :  20  ;  Mark  5:25;  Luke  8  :  43. 

Two  blind  men  and  a  dumb  man  healed.  Matt. 
9:27. 

18.  Nazareth.  Christ  appears  here,  but  is  re- 
jected the  second  time.  Matt.  13  :  54;  Mark  6:1.  The 
first  time  was  soon  after  his  baptism,  Luke  4:16. 

Galilee.  Jesus  makes  with  his  disciples  a  third 
circuit  through  Galilee,  Matt.  9:35;  Mark  6 : 6.  The 
passage  in  Luke  13  :  22  gives  quite  another  circuit  on 
his  final  journey  towards  Jerusalem,  which  took  place 
probably  the  following  year. 

Jesus  sends  out  the  twelve,  two  by  two.  Matt.  10:1, 
5  ;  Mark  ^-.^  \  Luke  9:1. 

Herod  (Antipas),  who  had  slain  John  the  Baptist, 
hears  of  Jesus,  and  supposes  that  John  has  risen. 
Matt.  14:1;  Mark  6:14;  Luke  9  :  7. 

Northeast  coast  of  the  lake.  The  five  thou- 
sand are  fed.  Jesus  afterwards  walks  upon  the  wa- 
ter, Matt.  14:15-33;  Mark  6:35-51;  Luke  9:12-17 
(Luke  omits  the  walking  on  the  water) ;  John  6 :  5-21. 


THE   THIRD  PASSOVER.  253 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   THIRD  PASSOVER. 

1.  Many  incidental  circumstances  have  led 
commentators  to  suppose  that  the  third  Passover 
transpired  about  this  time.  The  following  incidents 
are  therefore  attributed  to  him  after  the  third  Pass- 
over. We  therefore,  in  accordance  with  the  above 
supposition,  recount  the  events  for  the  next  six 
months  to  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  The  chief  rea- 
son for  asserting  the  third  Passover  at  this  time  is, 
that  according  to  John  6 : 4,  the  Passover  ^'  was  nigh  " 
at  the  time  of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand. 

2.  Capernaum.  Jesus  replies  to  the  Pharisees 
who  object  to  eating  with  unwashed  hands.  Matt. 
15:2;  Mark  7 :  i ,  in  which  the  washing  was  not  for 
cleanliness  but  religious  ceremony. 

3.  Keg-ion  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  The  Syro- 
phcenician  woman's  daughter  healed,  Matt.  15:21; 
Mark  7 :  24. 

TYRE   AND   SIDON. 

These  were  Phoenician  towns,  twenty-five  miles 
distant  from  each  other,  and  upon  the  Mediterranean 
seacoast.  They  are  mentioned  in  history  long  before 
the  building  of  Jerusalem.  The  first  is  mentioned 
in  Scripture  in  Josh.  19:29  for  the  first  time,  while 
Sidon  is  spoken  of  by  name  many  years  before,  in 


254  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Gen.  lo:  19,  as  being  a  prominent  Canaanitish  city, 
B.  C.  2350. 

In  the  time  of  our  Saviour  they  were  both  inhab- 
ited places,  and  Tyre  was  a  city  of  great  importance. 
At  present  they  are  considerable  towns  of  from  5,000 
(Tyre)  to  15,000  (Sidon)  inhabitants.  Tyre  is  almost 
due  west  from  Mt.  Hermon. 

Decapolis.  The  deaf  and  dumb  healed,  Mark 
7 :  32.  It  is  probable  that  this  case  is  to  be  distin- 
guished from  those  mentioned  in  Matt.  9 :  32  ;  12  :  22, 
which  may  have  happened  at  previous  times,  as  the 
surrounding  circumstances  suggest. 

DECAPOLIS. 

4.  This  region  contained  ten  principal  cities,  as 
the  name  signifies.  Pliny  gives  the  names  Scyth- 
opolis  (or  old  Beth-shean),  Philadelphia,  Raphana, 
Gadara,  Hippos,  Dios,  Pella,  Gerasa,  Canatha,  and 
Damascus  as  constituting  the  ten.  Josephus  says 
Otopos  instead  of  Canatha.  The  region  was  inhab- 
ited by  many  foreigners,  and  hence  might  have  con- 
tained more  swine  than  any  truly  Jewish  region. 
Hence  the  mention  of  large  numbers  of  swine  in  the 
healing  of  the  demoniac,  for  among  the  strictly  Jew- 
ish districts  the  keeping  of  swine  would  not  have 
been  permitted.  This  district  may  be  described  gen- 
erally as  east  of  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret«and  of  that 
part  of  Jordan  which  is  south  of  the  lake  as  far  as 
Scythopolis  or  Beth-shean,  fifteen  miles  south  of  the 
lake  and  four  miles  west  of  the  Jordan.     The  cities 


THE   THIRD    PASSOVER.  255 

of  the  list  have  not  all  been  identified.  Scythopolis, 
Philadelphia,  Gadara,  Damascus,  and  possibly  Hip- 
pos and  Pella,  are  known,  but  the  district  of  Decapo- 
lis  has  not  yet  been  satisfactorily  defined. 

5.  Scythopolis  we  have  already  described,  page 
132.  Philadelphia  was  the  name  given  to  the  pres- 
ent Ammon  by  Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  It  is  a  ruin 
on  the  high  tableland  twenty -three  miles  east  of  the 
Jordan  and  nearly  thirty  miles  northeast  of  the  Dead 
Sea.  It  is  the  old  Rabbath- Ammon,  the  capital  of 
the  Ammonites  in  the  time  of  Moses,  Deut.  3 : 1 1.  Its 
ruins  are  very  extensive. 

G.  Damascus  is  yet  an  important  city  fifty-five 
miles  east  of  the  Mediterranean  coast,  situated  on  an 
extensive  plain  bounded  on  the  north  by  spurs  of 
the  Anti-Lebanon  range. 

Excavations  seem  to  show  that  the  greater  part 
of  Damascus  is  built  upon  ancient  ruins  of  the  for- 
mer city.  Its  population  at  present  ( 1 890)  is  supposed 
to  be  about  125,000.  Hippos,  another  city  of  the 
Decapolis,  is  supposed  to  have  been  upon  the  south 
shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee ;  and  Pella,  whither  many 
Christians  fled  just  before  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, is  about  three  miles  east  of  the  Jordan,  up  in 
the  hills  eighteen  miles  south  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

Decapolis  region.  The  four  thousand  are  fed 
near  the  lake,  Matt.  15:32;  Mark  8:1. 

DALMANUTHA.    MAGDALA. 

7.  Daliuauutha  is  the  place  which  Jesus  ap- 


256  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRABHY. 

proached  on  his  return  from  the  east  of  the  lake  to 
the  west,  according  to  Mark  8  :  10,  after  feeding  the 
four  thousand.  Matthew  states  that  he  came  into 
the  coasts  of  Magdala.  They  must  have  been  in  the 
same  vicinity.  Magdala  is  now  called  Mejdel,  the  vil- 
lage still  being  inhabited.  It  is  immediately  upon 
the  shore,  and  a  little  more  than  three  miles  north 
of  Tiberias.  But  between  Mejdel  and  Tiberias  there 
is  a  spring  and  a  good  landing  place  with  some  re- 
mains. The  place  is  called  Ain  el-Fuliyeh,  and  may 
have  had  the  above  name  of  Dalmanutha,  as  the  soil 
is  richer  than  that  around  and  shows  evidences  of  a 
former  settlement.  The  place  seems  to  have  as- 
sumed in  recent  times  the  name  Ain  Barideh,  "  the 
cold  spring." 

The  boat  in  crossing  evidently  landed  between 
these  two  villages  of  Dalmanutha  and  Mejdel. 

8.  On  the  shore.  The  Pharisees  again  demand 
a  "sign,"  or  proof,  of  his  authority.  Matt.  16:1; 
Mark  8:  11.,  The  former  time  is  recorded  in  Matt. 
12:38. 

Crossing  the  lake.  He  warns  his  disciples  of 
the  leaven  against  the  Pharisees.  Matt.  16:6;  Mark 
8:15;  Luke  12:1  may  refer  to  this  time  or  may  have 
been  on  another  occasion. 

Bethsaida  (Julias).  The  blind  man  healed, 
Mark  8 :  22. 

Kear  Ctesarea-Philippi.  Jesus  foretells  his 
death.  The  transfiguration  takes  place.  He  heals 
immediately  afterward  a  demoniac  whom  his  disci- 


THE   THIRD    PASSOVER.  257 

pies  could  not  heal,  Matt.  16:21;  17  :  14;  Mark  8:31; 
9:  17;  Luke  9:  38. 

9.  Passing  througli  Galilee  to  Capernaum. 

He  foretells  his  death  and  resurrection  the   second 
time,  Matt.  17  :  22  ;  Mark  9:31;  Luke  9  144. 

Capernaum.  The  tribute  money  taken  from 
the  fish.  Matt.  1 7  :  24. 

The  seventy  are  sent  out  after  they  had  received 
the  lesson  upon  humility,  Matt.  18:1;  Mark  9. 
» 

JESUS  GOES  UP  TO  THE  FEAST  OF  THE  TABERNACLES. 

10.  The  nature  of  this  feast  is  described  in 
Lev.  23  :  33.  It  was  celebrated  on  the  fifteenth  day 
after  the  new  moon  in  October,  and  was  the  great 
"harvest  home  "  of  the  Jews.  All  dwelt  in  booths, 
called  ''tabernacles,"  for  eight  days,  of  which  the 
last  day  was  "the  great  day  of  the  feast."  The  later 
Jews  added  the  pouring  of  water  mingled  with  wine 
upon  the  morning  sacrifices  of  each  day,  amid 
sounding  of  trumpets  and  horns  and  the  singing  of 
a  passage  from  Isa.  12:3.  This  may  have  suggested 
the  announcement  made  by  our  Saviour  as  given  in 
John  7 :  37,  38. 

THE   LINE   OF   TRAVEL. 

11.  Jesus  leaves  Capernaum,  passes  through 
Galilee  by  Nazareth,  taking  the  shortest  route  direct 
to  Jerusalem  through  Samaria,  probably  by  Jacob's 
v.'cll,  which  was  situated  on  the  main  road,  the  same 
to-day  as  then.     This  was  in  October.     His  brethren 

Biblical  History  aud  Gcoi-rapliy. 


258  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

had  gone  on  before,  John  7 :  10,  and  he  delayed  till 
the  crowd  had  decreased  and  then  started.  Hence 
he  did  not  appear  till  the  third  or  fourth  day  of  the 
feast,  and  then  he  began  to  teach. 

On  his  Tvay,  in  Samaria.  The  ten  lepers  are 
cleansed,  Luke  17:  12. 

He  rebukes  James  and  John  for  wishing  to  call 
down  fire  upon  the  Samaritans,  Luke  g :  54. 

12,  Jeiaisalem.  Jesus  teaches  in  the  Temple, 
John  7:  14. 

The  woman  taken  in  adultery,  John  8:3. 

They  attempt  to  stone  him  for  saying,  "  Before 
Abraham  was,  I  am,"  John  8:58. 

A  lawyer  instructed.  Parable  of  the  Good  Samar- 
itan, Luke  10:  25. 

They  threaten  to  stone  him  for  saying,  "  I  and  my 
Father  are  one,"  John   10:  31. 

Bethany.  Jesus  visits  the  house  of  Martha  and 
Mary,  Luke  10:  38. 

Near  Jerusalem.  He  teaches  his  disciples  to 
pra)^  Luke  11  :  i. 

Jerusalem.  The  man  born  blind  is  healed  on 
the  Sabbath,  John  9:1. 

Bethany.  He  goes  to  "  beyond  Jordan,"  where 
John  at  first  baptized,  and  there  hearing  of  the  sick- 
ness of  Lazarus,  goes  to  Bethany  and  raises  him, 
John  II  :  I. 

Jerusalem.  Caiaphas,  the  high-priest,  suggests 
the  death  of  Jesus,  who  retires  to  Ephraim,  John 
11:47,  54- 


THE   THIRD   PASSOVER.  259 

EPHRAIM,   JOHN    11:54. 

13.  Tlie  site  of  this  town  lias  not  certainly 
been  identified,  but  Dr.  Robinson  has  given  good 
reasons  for  supposing  that  it  was  situated  at  a  village 
now  called  Taiyibch,  twelve  miles  a  little  east  of 
north  from  Jerusalem.  It  is  off  the  present  main 
road  of  travel,  to  the  east,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  very 
rough  and  untravelled  country,  but  there  are  the  re- 
mains of  a  good  Roman  road  running  down  from  this 
place  to  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  and  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  below  the  village  there  are  two  Roman 
mile-posts  still  standing  on  that  old  road.  It  is  prob- 
able that  here  our  Saviour  retired  from  the  danger 
that  seemed  to  threaten  him  in  Jerusalem.  After 
leaving  Ephraim  he  seems  to  have  taken  the  main 
road  down  to  the  plain  of  Jordan  and  crossed  to  the 
other  side,  called  Peraea. 

14.  Perrea.  Great  numbers  follow  Christ  here, 
and  the  following  is  a  brief  history  of  what  trans- 
pired in  that  region : 

He  heals  the  infirm  woman  on  the  Sabbath,  Luke 
13:10. 

He  is  warned  against  Herod,  Luke  13:31. 

He  dines  with  a  chief  Pharisee  on  the  Sabbath, 
Luke  14:  I. 

The  parables  of  the  lost  sheep  and  of  the  prod- 
igal son,  Luke  15  :  11-32. 

The  parables  of  the  unjust  steward  and  of  the 
rich  man  and  Lazarus,  Luke  16. 


26o  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

The  warnino^s  that  Christ's  coming:  will  be  sud- 
den,  Luke  17  :  20. 

The  parables  of  the  importunate  widow,  Luke 
18:1,  and  Pharisee  and  publican,  Luke  18  :  10. 

He  gives  precepts  respecting  divorce,  Matt.  19:3. 

He  blesses  little  children.  Matt.  19:13;  Mark 
10:  13  ;  Luke  18  :  15. 

The  visit  of  the  rich  young  man,  Matt.  19:16; 
Mark  10:17;  Luke  18  :  18. 

Parable  of  the  laborers  in  the  vineyard.  Matt. 
20:  I. 

On  the  way  up  to  Jerusalem.  Jesus  for  the 
third  time  foretells  his  crucifixion  and  resurrection, 
but  his  disciples  do  not  understand  him,  Matt.  20 :  17  ; 
Mark  10:32;  Luke  18:31. 

15.  Near  the  Jordan.  James  and  John  make 
their  ambitious  request  through  their  mother,  Matt. 
20:20;  Mark  10:  35. 

West  of  Jericho.  He  heals  two  blind  men. 
Matt.  20:30;  Mark  10:46;  Luke  18:35. 

Visits  Zacchaeus,  Luke  19  :  i-io. 

!N"earer  to  Jerusalem.  Parable  of  the  ten 
pounds.  Matt.  25  :  14-30;  Luke  19  :  1 1-27. 

Bethany.  The  supper  given  by  Simon  the 
leper.  Matt.  26:6-13;  Mark  14:3-9;  John  12:1-11; 
from  John  it  seems  that  this  feast  took  place  six  days 
before  the  Passover,  and  on  the  next  day  was  the 
triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem. 

Just  east  of  Bethany.  The  sending  for  the 
ass  and  colt,  followed  by  the  triumphal  entry  of  our 


THE   THIRD   PASSOVER.  261 

Saviour  into  Jerusalem.     Matt.  21  :  17.    Mark  1 1  :  i-i  i 
and  Luke  19 :  29-40  speak  only  of  the  colt. 

16.  Desceiiding"    the     Mount     of     Olives. 

Christ  weeps  over  Jerusalem,  Luke  19:41-44. 

Jerusalem.  He  makes  a  triumphal  entry  into 
Jerusalem  and  visits  the  Temple,  Matt.  21  :  12-17. 
This  passage  includes  the  statement  of  the  overturn- 
ing the  money-changers'  tables  on  the  first  day. 
Mark  11:12  states  that  this  act  was  performed  on  the 
day  following'.  As  he  performed  the  same  act  at  his 
first  Passover,  two  years  before,  John  2:13-17,  he 
may  have  done  the  same  thing  twice,  on  two  suc- 
cessive days.     Also  read  Luke  19:45. 

Bethany.  He  retires  at  evening  to  Bethany, 
Matt.  21  :  17;  Mark  11  :  11. 

BETHANY   AND   BETHPHAGE. 

17.  Bethany  was  a  little  over  a  mile  east  of  the 
lower  part  of  the  city,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  south- 
east from  St.  Stephen's  gate,  if  measured  along  the 
road. 

Bethphag-e  has  not  been  certainly  identified,  but 
it  was  probably  at  a  place  one  half-mile  south  of  the 
Church  of  the  Ascension,  which  is  on  the  top  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  It  was  on  the  way  from  Bethany 
to  Jerusalem,  where  the  road  from  Bethany  winds 
around  the  south  of  the  highest  part  of  the  Mount 
of  Olives.  This  was  the  supposition  of  Dr.  Barclay, 
and  seems  probable  to  the  writer,  who  visited  the 
place. 


262  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

On  the  way  from  Bethany  to  Jerusalem. 

The  fig-tree  cursed,  Matt.  21  :  19;  Mark  11  :  12. 

18.  Jerusalem.  Christ's  authority  demanded, 
Matt.  21  :  23  ;  Mark  11  :  27  ;  Luke  20:  i. 

Parable  of  the  two  sons,  Matt.  21  :  28. 

Parable  of  the  wicked  husbandmen,  Matt.  21 :  33- 
41  ;  Mark  12:1;  Luke  20 : 9. 

Of  the  marriage  of  the  king's  son,  Matt.  22 : 2. 

The  cunning  of  the  Pharisees  regarding  tribute 
to  Cassar,  Matt.  22: 15  ;  Mark  12  :  13  ;  Luke  20:21. 

The  artful  question  of  the  Sadducees  answered 
in  respect  to  the  resurrection.  Matt.  22J23;  Mark 
12  :  18  ;  Luke  20:  27. 

A  lawyer's  question,  Which  is  the  greatest  com- 
mandment?   Matt.  22  :  35  ;  Mark  12  :  28. 

Jesus'  question  as  to  why  David  calls  the  son 
Lord,  Matt.  22  :  42  ;  Mark  12:35;  Luke  20  :  41. 

He  warns  them  against  the  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
Matt.  23  :  2-36 ;  Mark  12  :  38-40  ;  Luke  20  :  46,  47. 

The  widow's  two  mites,  Mark  12  :4i  ;  Luke  21:1. 

Some  Greeks  desire  to  see  Jesus,  John  1 2  :  20. 

19.  Mount  of  Olives.  Warnings  and  foretell- 
ing of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  Matt.  24 :  3-5 1  ; 
Mark  13  :  3-37  ;  Luke  21  :  J-l^. 

The  ten  virgins  and  the  parable  of  the  five  tal- 
ents. Matt.  25  :  1-30. 

A  distinct  announcement  that  he  shall  come  in 
glory  with  the  angels,  Matt.  25:31-46;  such  an  an- 
nouncement was  made  before  his  transfiguration, 
but  only  in  brief  allusion,  see  Mark  8  :  38. 


THE   THIRD    PASSOVER.  263 

Jerusalem.  The  chief  priests,  scribes,  and 
elders  of  the  people  take  counsel  to  destroy  Jesus, 
Matt.  26  :  3  ;  Mark  14:  i,  2  ;  Luke  22  :  2. 

Jesus  appoints  a  place  where  he  shall  eat  the 
passover,  Matt.  26  :  17  ;  Mark  14  :  12  :  Luke  22  :  7, 

The  Lord's  Supper  instituted  at  the  close  of 
the  eating  of  the  passover,  Matt.  26 :  26-29  5  Mark 
14:22-26;  Luke  22:19,20.  From  the  last  quota- 
tion, with  its  context  both  before  and  after,  it  is 
plain  that  the  institution  followed  the  passover ;  read 
also  from  John  13:2. 

Jesus  washes  his  disciples'  feet.  This  includes 
Judas'  feet,  as  seen  in  the  record  by  John,  1 3  : 4-30. 

Jesus,  after  the  departure  of  Judas,  gives  a  re- 
markable series  of  comforting  instructions  and  ex- 
hortations to  the  apostles. 

20.  Gethsemane.  He  retires  to  Gethsemane 
and  prays  while  his  disciples  sleep,  Matt.  26 :  36 ; 
Mark  14:  32  ;  Luke  22  :  39. 

Betrayed  by  Judas,  he  is  led  away  to  Annas,  who 
sends  him  bound  to  the  high-priest  Caiaphas,  who 
was  with  the  Sanhedrin  as  they  were  assembled,  ex- 
pecting Jesus  at  that  hour,  Matt.  26 :  47  ;  Mark  14 :  43  ; 
Luke  22  :  47. 

ANNAS,   CAIAPHAS,   PILATE. 

31.  Annas  had  been  high-priest,  but  had  been 
deposed  by  the  procurator  of  Judaea ;  Caiaphas, 
who  was  made  high-priest,  was  his  son-in-law.* 

Annas  was  a   man   of  great  influence   and  was 

*  Josephiis,  "  Antiquilies,"  XVII.,  2:2. 


264  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

probably  at  this  time  president  of  the  Sanhedrin.* 
Hence  as  he  had  been  made  a  deputy  by  the  previ- 
ous procurator  and  discharged  some  of  the  functions 
of  the  office,  he  was  called  a  high-priest. 

33.  Pilate  succeeded  to  the  office  of  procurator 
A.  D.  26,  and  gave  to  the  Jewish  priests  the  manage- 
ment of  their  own  affairs,  in  order  to  conciliate  them, 
but  at  times  he  was  exceedingly  cruel  and  exacting.f 
As  an  instance,  when  he  desired  to  bring  water  into 
Jerusalem  from  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles,  to 
aid  in  the  enterprise  he  seized  upon  the  money  laid 
up  in  the  Temple  for  sacred  purposes.  This  act  so 
enraged  the  Jews  that  they  assembled  by  thousands 
at  the  palace  gates  demanding  the  restoration  of  the 
money.  Pilate  ordered  his  soldiers  to  disperse  them, 
and  they  with  their  short  daggers  charged  the 
crowds  into  the  very  precincts  of  the  Temple,  slay- 
ing great  numbers  even  upon  the  altars  of  their  sac- 
rifices.:]: 

23.  Jerusalem.  The  Sanhedrin  lead  Jesus  to 
Pilate,  Matt.  27  : 2  ;  Mark  15:1;  Luke  23  :  i  ;  John 
18:28. 

Pilate  endeavors  to  deliver  Jesus  from  death,  but 
finally  gives  him  over  to  crucifixion,  Matt.  27  :  1 1-26  ; 
Mark  15:9-15;  Luke  23  : 4-24;  John  18:38;   19:16. 

The  supernatural  darkness,  from  the   sixth  hour 

*  EUicott,  333,  in  Maclear's  "Class  Book  of  the  New  Testament," 
p.  T49. 

t  Prideaux,  "  Connection,"  II.,  9,  p.  379. 
J  Josephus,  "Antiquities,"  XVIII.,  3:2. 


THE   THIRD    PASSOVER.  265 

(twelve,  midday)  to  the   ninth    hour    (three   in   the 
afternoon),  Matt.  27  :45  ;  Mark  15  :  33  ;  Luke  23  :44. 

The  rending  of  the  veil  of  the  Temple,  Matt. 
27:51  ;  Mark  15  138  ;  Luke  23  -.4^. 

24.  This  veil  was  sixty  feet  high  and  of  very 
heavy  material,  according  to  Jewish  writers.  A  veil 
to  cover  the  holy  place  was  used  in  the  temples  of 
Diana  at  Ephesus  and  of  Jupiter  at  Olympia,  and  as 
they  were  of  the  same  material,  of  woollen  and  richly 
embroidered  and  in  color  purple,  it  seems  they 
must  have  been  suggested  by  the  veil  in  the  Jewish 
Temple,  which  was  of  the  same  material,  work,  and 
color.  The  Jewish  veil  was  the  inner  one  separating 
the  "  Holy  of  holies  "  from  the  other  part  of  the  sanc- 
tuary.*   For  the  original  description  see  Exod.  26 : 3 1. 

The  earthquake.  Matt.  27:51.  Rocks  rent  and 
graves  opened.  Matt.  27:  52. 

Centurion  surprised.  Matt.  27:54;  Mark  15:39; 
Luke  23  :  47  ;  Luke  adds  "all  the  people." 

Women  beholding  afar  off.  Matt.  27:  55,  56;  Mark 
15:40;  Luke  23:49;  John  19:25;  John  states  that 
some  stood  by  the  cross. 

25.  Joseph  of  Arimathaea  applies  for  the 
body  of  Jesus,  Matt.  27 :  57-60 ;  Mark  1 5  :  42-47  ;  Luke 
23:50-53;  John  19:38. 

Nicodemus  brings  spices  to  the  sepulchre,  John 
29:39. 

The  Jews,  by  Pilate's  permission,  set  a  watch, 
Matt.  27 :  62-66. 

*  Pausanias,  V.,  12:12,  in  Bloomfield's  "Notes,"  Matt.  27:51. 
12 


266  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

The  descent  of  an  angel  who  rolls  away  the 
stone,  Matt.  28:2;  Mark  16:5;  Mark  says  a  young 
man  was  sitting  in  the  sepulchre  when  the  two 
Marys  came  with  spices.  Luke  24  : 4  states  two  men 
(angels)  stood  at  the  sepulchre.  John  21  mentions 
no  angel  at  the  first  visit,  but  afterward  Mary  Mag- 
dalene on  her  return  sees  two  angels  in  the  sepulchre, 
John  20:  II,  12. 

26.  The  chief  priests  bribe  the  soldiers  to  keep 
the  secret.  Matt.  28  :  1 1-15. 

The  two  disciples,  Peter  and  Cleopas,  going  to 
Emmaus,  see  Jesus,  Luke  24:  13-35. 

EMMAUS. 

27.  The  site  of  tliis  town  has  not  been  iden- 
tified beyond  doubt.  But  the  village  Amwas,  fifteen 
miles  northwest  by  west  from  Jerusalem,  has  been 
supposed  to  be  the  place.  Its  distance  is  almost  too 
great  for  the  disciples  to  have  travelled  in  the  time 
specified,  and  it  is  farther  off  than  the  sixty  furlongs 
which  is  given  as  its  distance  from  Jerusalem  in 
Luke  24:13.  But  the  distance  is  given  in  several 
of  the  old  rnanuscripts  as  160  furlongs  instead  of 
sixty ;  especially  is  it  so  stated  in  the  old  Sinaitic 
manuscript.  This  fact,  with  the  similarity  of  name, 
and  the  statement  by  Jerome  that  it  was  at  this 
place,  formerly  called  Nicopolis,  leads  to  the  general 
impression  that  the  site  of  Emmaus  is  to  be  found 
at  Amwas. 

28.  Jesus  suddenly  appears  to  the  apostles  as 


THE   THIRD   PASSOVER.  26/ 

they  are  gathered  in  a  room,  Thomas  being  absent, 
and  again  eight  days  afterward  when  Thomas  was 
present.  This  is  according  to  John  20: 19-29.  Luke 
only  mentions  the  one  appearance  in  the  room,  Luke 
24  :  36-48 ;  also  in  Mark  only  one  appearance  in  the 
room  as  they  sat  at  meat  or  together,  Mark  16:  14; 
but  this  appearance  is  omitted  in  Matthew. 

The  apostles  and  perhaps  many  others  go  into 
Galilee,  Matt.  28:16,17;  Mark  makes  no  statement, 
nor  does  Luke,  in  reference  to  the  going  into  Galilee. 
John  21  :  1-23  gives  the  meeting  of  Jesus  at  the  Sea 
of  Tiberias. 

After  this  he  meets  the  apostles  and  over  500 
brethren  at  once;  is  "seen  of  James,"  and  finally 
"  of  all  the  apostles,"  having  led  them  out  to  Beth- 
any, where  his  ascension  took  place,  i  Cor.  1 5  : 6,  7 ; 
Luke  24:49-53. 


268  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 

1.  Immediately  after  the  departure  of  our 

Saviour  the  disciples  recovered  all  their  faith  and 
courage  and  returned  to  Jerusalem  from  Bethany. 

The  first  act  of  the  apostles  was  to  restore  their 
number  to  twelve,  made  eleven  by  the  apostasy  of 
Judas.  Two  nominations  were  made  of  men  who, 
like  themselves,  had  been  companions  of  the  Saviour 
from  the  baptism  of  John  to  the  ascension  (Acts 
i:2i).  The  men  nominated  were  Joseph,  called 
Barsabas,  and  Matthias  ;  the  latter  was  chosen  by  lot. 

2.  The  appointment,  or  selection,  by  lot  was 
considered  sacred  among  the  ancients  ;  and  was  per- 
formed, as  to  the  mode  of  the  lot,  by  casting  into 
some  vessel  a  number  of  little  tablets,  pebbles,  or 
strips  of  leather  or  papyrus,  upon  which  were  in- 
scribed the  names  or  some  distinguishing  marks. 
The  vessel  was  then  vShaken,  and  that  name,  or  its 
representative,  which  first  fell  upon  the  floor  deter- 
mined the  choice.  In  the  time  of  Homer  the  lot  was 
cast  into  a  helmet  and  shaken.*  In  Prov.  i6:  33  the 
same  idea  of  casting  the  lot  into  a  vessel  is  in- 
tended, with  the  addition  that  the  result  is  guided  by 
the  Lord,  for  the  English  word  "  lap  "  in  the  passage 

*  As  mentioned,  "Iliad,"  III.,  1.  315,  316,  etc.     "  Iliad,"  VII.,  1.  175, 
176,  etc. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  269 

just  quoted  in  tlie  Hebrew  signifies  "  the  opening," 
i.  e.,  of  tlie  urn  or  vessel  into  whicli  the  lot  was  cast. 

The  use  of  lots  is  mentioned  frequently  in  the 
Old  Testament;  at  first  over  the  scapegoat,  as  de- 
scribed in  Lev.  16:8;  then  in  the  division  of  the  holy 
land,  Num.  34:13,  and,  with  supernatural  results,  at 
the  detection  of  Achan,  Josh.  7:14,  18,  and  Jonah 
1:7;  also  in  the  division  of  the  priests  into  their 
orders,  i  Chron.  24: 1-5. 

The  term  for  "  lot "  in  the  Latin  is  clems,  and  the 
persons  chosen  to  any  priestly  office,  or  set  apart  b}f 
due  ordination  to  the  service  of  God,  in  the  Christian 
church  as  a  body,  are  called  the  "  clergy,"  declar- 
ative of  the  fact  that  their  possession  of  or  appoint- 
ment to  the  sacred  office  is  by  divine  decision,  as 
was  always  supposed  to  be  the  case  in  the  ancient 
priestly  appointment  by  lots. 

PENTECOST. 

3.  The  next  annual  feast  took  place  on  the 
fiftieth  day  after  the  Passover  and  was  called  Pente- 
cost, the  Greek  word  for  the  fiftieth.  It  was  called 
the  Feast  of  Weeks,  Deut.  16:10,  also  the  Feast  of 
Harvest,  Exod.  23  :  16,  or  of  the  Firstfruits,  Num. 
28  :  26.  It  lasted  but  one  day,  and  upon  that  day  two 
loaves  of  the  first  wheat  were  offered  at  the  Temple. 
The  festival  now  called  Whitsunday  was  suggested 
by  this  festival. 

When  the  time  for  this  feast  arrived  there  was  at 
Jerusalem  a  remarkable  gathering  which  shows  to 


2/0  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

what  extent  the  Jewish  nation  had  already  been  scat- 
tered over  the  world.  There  were  visitors  from 
Parthia,  Media,  and  Elam,  from  600  to  700  miles  on 
the  east ;  from  Mesopotamia,  about  400  miles  on  the 
northeast ;  from  Cappadocia,  500  miles  on  the  north 
and  midway  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Black  Sea ;  from  Pontus  lying  on  the  Black  Sea ;  and 
from  that  part  of  Asia  Minor  then  called  "  Asia." 

This  last  mentioned  district,  although  it  after- 
ward gave  its  name  to  the  whole  vast  continent,  at 
this  time  comprised  only  the  extreme  southwestern 
parts  of  the  peninsula,  such  as  Caria  and  Lydia  and 
a  part  of  Mysia,  its  chief  city  being  Ephesus.  This 
was  in  after  times  the  region  of  the  "  seven  churches" 
of  Revelation.*  There  were  gathered  Jews  from 
Phrygia  and  Pamphylia,  500  to  600  miles  off  towards 
the  northwest,  the  former  on  the  high  tableland 
and  the  latter  on  the  low  seacoast  southeast. 
They  were  there  from  Egypt  on  the  southwest, 
and  from  Libya  and  Cyrene,  400  miles  west  of  the 
Nile,  on  the  African  coast,  and  from  Rome,  near- 
ly 1,500  miles  to  the  northwest;  also  from  the  island 
of  Crete,  600  miles  west  by  north,  and  from  Arabia  on 
the  southeast. 

4.  It  was  upon  the  occasion  of  this  great 
gathering  to  Jerusalem  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  that 
Peter  exhibited  the  beginning  of  that  remarkable 
Christian  courage,  knowledge,  and  endurance  which 
characterized  him  ever  after.      He  was  now  not  only 

*  Conybeare  and  Howson's,  "Life  and  Travels  of  St.  Paul,"  CXIV, 


THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  27I 

the  orator,  but  the  able  Christian  expositor  of  the 
prophets  and  of  the  Psalms.  The  general  outline  of 
his  address  at  this  time  is  given  us  in  Acts  2  :  14-40, 
but  the  effect  was  so  great  that  3,000  came  out  pub- 
licly and  were  baptized  on  that  one  day. 

5.  The  extreme  poverty  of  the  little  band  of 
apostles,  as  a  whole,  is  evident ;  *  but  after  the  Pen- 
tecost some  of  those  who  were  added  contributed  to 
the  general  fund,  and  there  was  no  suffering  after 
the  organization  was  complete.  Acts  4 :  34.  Even  those 
who  immediately  after  the  crucifixion  returned  to 
their  trades  were  enabled  to  devote  their  whole  time 
to  mission  work,  so  far  as  we  have  any  records  of 
them.  Acts  6 : 4. 

THE   IMMEDIATE   SUCCESS. 

6.  From  tlie  various  notices  of  additions  to 
their  number  and  from  the  official  appointment  of 
seven  men  of  ability  to  disburse  the  funds  and  at- 
tend to  the  needy,  Acts  6:3,  it  is  evident  that  the 
numbers  of  the  early  church  before  the  first  great 
persecution  began  must  have  amounted  to  many 
thousands,  Acts  2  142,  47  ;  5  :  14  ;  6:1,  7. 

THE   FIRST   PERSECUTION. 

7.  Of  the  seven  men  appointed  to  attend  to 
the  management  of  the  general  treasury  and  to  the 
claims  of  the  poor,  the  chief  was  Stephen.  His  ex- 
ceeding prominence  in  public  work,  his  very  exten- 

*  John  21 :2,  3. 


2/2  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

sive  knowledge  of  the  Law,  and  his  aggressive  abiHty 
in  defending  the  gospel  gave  great  offence  to  some 
of  the  Jews.  The  result  was  his  arraignment  before 
the  Sanhedrin  and  examination  upon  the  two  points 
which  to  the  Jews  were  the  dearest  of  all,  namely, 
the  sanctity  of  the  Temple  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
Law. 

Stephen  answered  the  inquiry  of  the  high-priest, 
Acts  7  : 1,  by  a  history  accompanied  by  unmistakable 
Scripture  proof  that  although  Solomon  himself  was 
the  builder,  the  Temple  was  no  better  than  the  wor- 
shippers, and  he  quoted  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  66 :  i,  2, 
to  show  that  the  temple  which  the  Lord  honored  was 
the  poor  and  contrite  spirit.  He  then  immediately 
charged  the  Sanhedrin  as  being  unworthy  of  the 
Temple  themselves  and  in  heart  violaters  of  the  Law 
in  that  they  had  both  betrayed  and  murdered  the 
one  of  whom  the  Law  spoke,  thus  ending  the  ad- 
dress with  the  most  terrific  charges  of  infidelity  both 
to  the  Temple  and  to  the  Law.  No  such  words  had 
ever  been  uttered  before  the  Sanhedrin  since  it  had 
existed. 

He  was  immediately  dragged  out  of  the  city  and 
stoned  to  death.  Stephen  was  the  first  Christian 
martyr. 

8.  This  death  was  the  sig-nal  for  the  first 
persecution.  The  immediate  effect  of  this  persecu- 
tion was  to  scatter  the  members  of  the  Christian 
community  of  Jerusalem  not  only  throughout  Sa- 
maria and  Galilee,  but  even  to  Phoenicia,  Antioch, 


THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  273 

and  Cyprus,  and  they  went  preaching  the  same  doc- 
trines which  had  been  taught  in  Jerusalem,  Acts 
II  :  19. 

The  city  of  Samaria  was  at  this  time  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  in  Palestine.  It  was  presented  to 
Herod  the  Great  by  Augustus,  and  in  honor  of  the 
emperor  Herod  named  it  Sebaste.* 

9.  One  of  "  tlie  seveii,"f  of  whom  we  have  spo- 
ken was  Philip,  who  went  to  this  city  and  preached 
the  new  doctrine  with  great  success. 

One  of  the  visitors  from  distant  lands  was  an  of- 
ficer of  Candace,  queen  of  the  Ethiopians.  He  had 
come  from  that  country  to  attend  the  celebration  at 
Jerusalem  and  was  returning,  when  by  divine  direc- 
tion Philip  left  Samaria  to  join  him  on  the  home- 
ward road.  This  officer  accepted  the  company  of 
Philip  on  the  way,  and  the  latter  presented  the  new 
doctrine  with  such  ability  that  the  Ethiopian  officer, 
who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Scriptures  through 
the  Greek  translation  (the  Septuagint),  became  the 
first  recorded  convert  from  that  distant  country  of 
Ethiopia. 

CONVERSION   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

10,  At  the  stoning  of  Stephen  there  was  a 
young  man  present  who  made  himself  conspicuous 
by  keeping  the  outer  garments  of  those  who  engaged 
in  the  act  of  stoning  the  martyr.  This  man  was 
Saul,  a  Hebrew  name,  afterward  changed  into  the 

*  Sebaste  being  the  Greek  form  of  the  word  Augustus, 
t  Acts  6:5. 

12* 


274  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Roman  form  of  Paul.  He  was  a  native  of  Tarsus,  a 
large  and  celebrated  city  of  Cilicia,  a  district  on  the 
northern  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  but  the  most 
eastern  on  that  coast.  Tarsus  was  a  city  of  learned 
institutions  and  learned  men.  The  tutors  of  two 
emperors  of  Rome  dwelt  there,  and  it  was  a  favored 
city  in  many  respects,  being  a  place  of  large  com- 
merce. Young  Saul  was  sent  to  Jerusalem  at  an 
early  age  and  became  a  pupil  of  Gamaliel. 

This  Gamaliel  was  considered  not  only  one  of  the 
most  learned  in  the  Hebrew  literature  but  also  in 
the  Greek,  and  he  was  president  of  the  Sanhedrin. 
He  afterward  transferred  the  locality  of  the  Sanhe- 
dral  schools  from  Jerusalem  to  Jamnia,  the  Jabneel 
of  Josh.  15  :  II. 

11.  Jabneel,  or  Jabneli,  now  called  Yebneh,  is 
thirteen  miles  due  south  of  Jaffa,  the  ancient  Joppa, 
and  must  be  distinguished  from  the  Jamnia  seaport 
four  and  a  half  miles  northwest,  which  is  sometimes 
referred  to  by  the  same  name,  but  not  so  in  Scrip- 
ture. In  the  time  of  the  Maccabees  the  coast  town 
was  a  more  important  seaport  than  Joppa.  During 
the  crusades  Jabneh  was  called  Ibelin.*  It  is  built 
on  a  hill  and  is  four  miles  from  the  sea. 

12.  In  carrying  out  his  enmity  against  the 
Christians  Saul  determined  to  visit  Damascus,  where 
several  synagogues  existed. 

Damascus  was  about  1 50  miles  by  road  northeast 
from  Jerusalem.     Obtaining  letters  of  introduction 

*  Baedeker,  p.  317. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  2/5 

from  the  high-priest,  he  set  out  to  accomplish  his 
purpose.  On  the  way,  before  entering  Damascus,  he 
was  arrested  by  a  supernatural  vision  and  was 
changed  from  the  condition  of  a  bitter  and  deter- 
mined enemy  to  that  of  an  equally  determined  advo- 
cate of  the  Christian  faith,  and,  after  a  season  of  ap- 
parent preparation,  he  returned  to  Jerusalem. 

But  this  addition  to  the  Christian  community  was 
attended  with  such  vexation  and  such  disappoint- 
ment to  the  Jews  that  "  they  went  about  to  slay 
him,"  and  it  was  thought  best  by  his  brethren  that 
Saul  should  depart  for  Tarsus.  At  his  departure 
the  persecution  ceased. 

AZOTUS,   C-^SAREA,    LYDDA,   JOPPA. 

13.  These  places  now  come  into  notice  in  con- 
nection with  the  missionary  tours  of  Philip,  the  de- 
parture of  Saul  to  Tarsus,  and  the  visit  of  Peter  to 
those  who  had  lately  joined  the  new  fellowship. 

Philip,  after  leaving  the  Ethiopian  officer  of 
Queen  Candace,  travelled  northward  on  the  coast 
of  the  Mediterranean  till  he  reached  Azotus.  This 
was  the  most  important  city  of  the  Philistines  in  the 
time  of  David,  and  was  known  as  Ashdod,  but  by  the 
Greeks  called  Azotus.  It  is  three  miles  inland  from 
the  coast,  and  situated  on  the  slope  of  a  large  hill 
140  feet  above  the  sea  level.  It  is  twenty-one  miles 
north  from  Azotus  to  Joppa,  and  thirty-two  from 
Joppa  to  Csesarea,  and  along  this  way  on  foot  Philip 
travelled,  preaching  as  he  went. 


276  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

Caesarea  was  built  by  Herod  the  Great  upon  the 
former  site  of  a  little  village  called  Strato's  Tower, 
and  named  after  Csesar  Augustus.  It  was  magnifi- 
cently constructed  as  a  city  and  as  a  harbor,  and  ves- 
sels sailed  between  it  and  many  distant  parts  of  the 
Mediterranean  :  hence  it  was  at  this  time  and  long 
afterward  the  great  shipping  port  of  Palestine.  Jose- 
phus  gives  us  a  full  description  of  the  city,  and  states 
that  its  completion  was  celebrated,  B.  C.  13,  by  splen- 
did games.  It  was  the  chief  residence  of  the  Roman 
officers  and  governors  of  Judaea. 

14.  We  have  evidences  that  a  Christian  church 
had  been  planted  here  at  a  very  early  period,  and  in 
A.  D.  200  it  became  the  residence  of  a  bivshop  who 
was  primate  of  all  the  bishops  in  Palestine,  Jerusa- 
lem included.  Origen  taught  here  in  the  third  cen- 
tury, and  here  Eusebius  was  educated  and  afterward 
became  its  bishop  ;  he  died  A.  D.  340.  In  A.  D.  i  loi 
Caesarea  was  captured  from  the  Moslems  by  Baldwin 
L,  and  among  the  rich  booty  was  found  a  hexag- 
onal vase  of  green  crystal  supposed  to  have  been  a 
sacramental  cup,  and  this  plays  an  important  part  in 
mediaeval  poetry  as  the  "holy  grail." 

15.  It  was  to  tliis  port  that  Saul  was  taken  to 
find  a  passage  direct  for  Tarsus,  which  was  about  300 
miles  north.  Tarsus  is  ten  miles  off  the  coast  and 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles  from  the  present  Mersina,  or 
ancient  Soli,  which  was  its  port. 

16.  Philip  went  to  Caesarea  from  Azotus, 
preaching  in  all  the  cities,  and   here   he   seems  to 


THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  2// 

have  finally  settled,  as  years  after,  when  Paul  re- 
turned from  his  last  missionary  tour,  he  stopped  at 
his  house  and  stayed  with  Philip  before  going  up  to 
Jerusalem.  At  that  time  Philip  had  four  daughters 
who  were  gifted  with  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  Acts 
21:9.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  extensive 
Christian  influence  which  pervaded  Csesarea  for  so 
many  centuries  afterward  was  greatly  due  to  the 
early  work  and  presence  of  Philip.  We  should  not 
confound  the  two  Philips  :  (i)  Philip  the  apostle,  and 
(2)  this  Philip,  who  is  sometimes  called  Philip  the 
evangelist.  The  latter  probably  died  in  Caesarea, 
but  the  apostle  in  Asia  Minor. 

17.  Lydcla  and  Joppa.  Joppa  is  upon  the 
sea-coast  thirty-five  iniles  northwest  from  Jerusalem, 
measured  on  a  straight  line,  and  Lydda  is  twelve 
miles  southeast  of  Joppa.  Joppa  is  mentioned  in  the 
inscriptions  of  Sennacherib,  the  Assyrian  king,  who 
reigned  B.  C.  705-681,  as  Jo-ap-pa,  so  that  the  name 
Joppa  is  ancient,  and  the  place  was  the  seaport  of 
Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  Solomon,  B.  C.  1015,  at 
which  he  received  wood  "out  of  Lebanon,"  2  Chron. 
2: 16.     This  is  the  first  mention  in  Scripture. 

It  is  now  called  Yafa,  and  its  population  is  much 
greater  than  that  which  generally  appears  in  the 
guide-books,  being  about  18,000,  as  the  author  has 
been  informed  by  a  long  resident  physician.  Both 
of  these  places  are  on  the  great  coast-plain  known  as 
the  plain  of  Sharon,  or  Saron,  which  was,  in  the  time 
of  Solomon,  a  great  pasture-land,  i  Chron  27  :  29. 


2/8  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

It  is  probable  that  at  this  time  greater  opportu- 
nity was  allowed  the  Christians  to  work  on  in  peace, 
not  only  because  of  the  conversion  of  Saul,  but  be- 
cause at  the  death  of  Tiberius,  March,  A.  D.  37,  Ca- 
ligula became  emperor,  and  the  attention  of  the  Jews 
was  violently  drawn  to  care  for  themselves. 

On  his  accession  to  power  Caligula  ordered  that 
divine  honors  should  be  paid  to  him  throughout 
the  empire.  In  furtherance  of  this  order  he  direct- 
ed that  an  image  of  himself  should  be  placed  in  the 
Holy  of  holies,  the  most  sacred  place  in  the  Tem- 
ple at  Jerusalem.  Such  a  profanation  of  the  Tem- 
ple was  so  abhorrent  to  the  Jews  that  it  seemed  at 
one  time  to  the  prefect  of  Syria,  Petronius,  that  the 
Jews  must  be  exterminated  if  the  order  was  carried 
out,  and  he  wrote  to  Caligula  in  accordance  with  his 
impression.  But  the  emperor  was  inexorable,  and  it 
is  impossible  to  say  what  would  have  been  the  re- 
sult had  not  Caligula  been  assassinated,  on  the  24th 
of  January,  A,  D.  41.* 

18.  A.  D.  38.  It  was  during  these  troublous 
times  in  the  Jewish  community  that  the  apostle 
Peter  went  to  Lydda  in  the  course  of  his  visits  to 
the  Christian  churches.  There  he  raised  ^neas 
from  a  sick-bed.  Acts  9:33,  and  going  from  Lydda  to 
Joppa  he  raised  Dorcas  to  life.  Acts  9  :  40. 

A.  D.  41.  Peter  now  visited  Ceesarea  by  the  in- 
vitation of  Cornelius,  the  centurion,  or  captain  of  a 

*  Josephus'  "Antiquities,"  XIX.,    i:ii,  and  Maclear's  "New  Testa- 
ment History,"  p.  394. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH.  279 

band  called  the  Italian  band,  or  cohort,  probably  be- 
cause it  was  a  company  of  soldiers  who  were  all 
from  Italy,  enlisted  under  Roman  orders. 

The  soldiers  usually  employed  were  provincial, 
that  is,  belonging  to  the  country  where  they  were 
stationed ;  but  in  this  case  they  were  sent  here  from 
Italy  and  were  generally  composed  of  both  infantry 
and  cavalry,  serving  as  a  body-guard  for  the  governor, 
and  were  probably  at  this  time  garrisoning  Caesarea.* 

*  These  cohorts  are  mentioned  by  Arrian ;  see  authority  in  Bloom- 
field's  "Notes,"  Acts  10:1. 


28o  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

THE  GOSPEL  FOR  GENTILES   AS  WELL  AS  JEWS.      FIRST 
MISSIONARY   TOUR   OF   PAUL   AND    BARNABAS. 

1.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  although  the 
apostles  were  so  fully  persuaded  of  the  verity  and 
power  of  the  gospel,  they  had  not  yet  learned  the 
intent  and  universality  of  its  application  to  the  Gen- 
tiles and  to  all  the  human  race,  and  though  commis- 
sioned by  their  Master  to  preach  it  "to  all  the 
world,"  still  held  that  the  Jewish  people  were  the 
only  chosen  race  and  all  others  were  unclean,  and 
that  it  was  unlawful  to  associate,  or  eat,  and  com- 
mune freely  with  any  but  that  race.  Hence  up  to 
this  time  the  gospel  had  been  preached  with  the  in- 
tent of  converting  only  Jews  to  the  Christian  faith. 

3.  Ill  view  of  these  strong  prejudices  a  re- 
markable "vision  in  a  trance,"  Acts  11:5,  on  the 
housetop,  at  Joppa,  was  granted  Peter,  whereby  for 
the  first  time  he  was  led  to  comprehend  the  fact  that 
hereafter  spiritual  cleanliness  should,  in  the  divine 
sight  and  purposes,  for  ever  cancel  all  obligations  to 
the  merely  ceremonial,  and  he  was  then  directed  to 
immediately  proceed  to  the  house  and  to  the  Gentile 
company  awaiting  him  at  Cassarea.  The  history  is 
recorded  in  Acts  10. 

3.  On  his  return  to  Jerusalem  he  communi- 


THE   GOSPEL   FOR   THE   GENTILES.  281 

cated  the  new  order,  that  now  the  gospel  was  to  be 
preached  to  the  Gentiles  as  well  as  to  the  Jews,  and 
he  narrated  his  vision  and  the  consequent  visit  to 
Cassarea.  All  of  which  was  accepted  without  dis- 
cussion and  with  very  evident  satisfaction. 

Saul  however,  having  been  forced  to  leave  Pales- 
tine, travelled  throughout  Cilicia  and  Syria,  Gal. 
1:21,  until  he  was  invited  back  to  Jerusalem. 

4.  At  this  time,  about  A.  D.  41,  Antioch  was 
a  city  of  large  population  and  many  Jews  inhabited 
the  place,  who  became  strong  adherents  to  the  new 
faith,  and  it  was  now  that,  at  this  place,  the  name 
Christian  was  applied  to  all  who  were  followers  of 
Christ,  although  at  first  they  themselves  did  not  ac- 
cept the  name. 

THE   TWO   ANTIOCHS. 

Antioch  in  Syria  was  300  miles  north  of  Jeru- 
salem and  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean shore,  where  was  its  port,  then  called  Seleucia. 
It  was  the  most  beautiful  city  of  Syria  and  at  that 
time  the  most  important. 

Antioch  in  Pisidia,  however,  which  is  now 
called  Yalobatch,  is  500  miles  northwest  of  Jerusalem 
and  100  north  of  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean. 
This  Antioch  is  partly  on  the  southern  declivity  of  a 
long  range  of  mountains  and  owes  its  ancient  name 
to  the  same  king  who  gave  name  to  the  Syrian  An- 
tioch. This  king  was  Seleucus,  king  of  Syria,  whose 
father's  name,  Antiochus,  he  gave  to  these  cities  and 


282  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

his  own  to  Seleucia,  fifteen  miles  off,  on  the  coast,  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken. 

Antioch  was  at  this  time  the  adopted  city  of  a  very 
active  community  of  Christians,  many  of  whom  were 
Grecians  and  others  Gentiles.  Paul,  whose  special 
talents  and  education  admirably  fitted  him  for  this 
class  of  converts,  being  now  at  Tarsus,  was  sent  for, 
and  he  remained  in  Antioch  for  about  a  year ;  when 
he,  with  others,  began  a  series  of  missionary  tours 
whereby  the  gospel  was  not  only  extended  through- 
out Western  Asia  but  introduced  into  Europe,  as 
we  shall  soon  see. 

5.  A.  D.  42.  About  this  period  there  came 
to  Antioch  a  prophet,  by  name  Agabus,  one  of  a 
number  who  not  only  foretold  events  but  seemed  en- 
dowed with  extraordinary  powers  of  exposition  of  the 
divine  word.*  This  prophet  announced  that  a  great 
famine  would  soon  call  for  generosity  on  the  part 
of  the  church  at  Antioch  towards  the  poorer  mem- 
bers of  the  community  in  Judsea,  Acts  11  :  28. 

This  announcement  was  made  during  the  reign 
of  Claudius,  A.  D.  41-54,  of  which  reign  Tacitus  says 
that  it  was  distinguished  for  earthquakes,  bad  har- 
vests, and  general  scarcity. f  The  Christians  in  An- 
tioch, therefore,  sent  contributions  to  Jerusalem  and 
commissioned  Saul  and  Barnabas  for  the  purpose  of 
conveying  these  gifts,  Acts  1 1  :  29. 

*  Maclear,  ".New  Testament  History,"  p.  403,  note. 

t  Tac,  "  Ann.,"  12: 13  ;  Josephus,  "  Antiquities,"  III.,  15:3  ;  XX.,  2:5. 
The  famine  here  foretold  took  place  in  Judaea  A.  D.  44,  in  the  fourth 
year  of  Claudius.    Josephus,  "  Antiquities,"  XIX.,  7:2. 


THE   GOSPEL   FOR   THE   GENTILES.  283 

For  the  first  time  we  now  read  of  the  term  "  pres- 
byters" in  the  Greek,  or  seniores  in  the  Vulgate 
translation,  and  called  "  elders  "  in  the  English  ver- 
sion. Acts  1 1 :  30. 

6.  At  this  time  Herod  Agrippa  (see  table  page 
229)  ruled  in  Judaea.  Claudius  had  known  him  as 
an  earnest  advocate  of  his  rule  before  his  succession 
to  the  empire,  and  he  therefore  rewarded  Herod 
with  the  addition  of  Samaria  and  Judaea  to  those 
possessions  of  Philip  Antipas  which  he  before  pos- 
sessed. Herod  had  been  imprisoned  by  Tiberius, 
but  Caligula  restored  him  to  liberty  and  presented 
him  with  a  golden  chain  of  the  same  weight  as  the 
iron  one  he  had  worn  in  prison,  and  this  chain  he 
dedicated  to  the  Temple  when,  A.  D.  42,  he  arrived 
in  Jerusalem.  This  Herod  courted  the  favor  of  the 
Jews  by  many  public  acts.  In  his  time  the  northern 
section  of  Jerusalem,  now  inclosed  with  a  wall,  was 
a  suburb ;  and  he  inclosed  it  and,  had  not  the  prefect 
of  Syria  compelled  him  to  stop,  he  would  have 
strengthened  all  the  fortifications  of  the  city. 

7.  It  was  evidently,  therefore,  because  it 
pleased  the  Jews,  and  probably  at  their  instigation, 
that  he  wilfully  put  to  death  James,  the  son  of 
Zebedee,  with  the  sword  and  proceeded  to  perpe- 
trate the  same  atrocity  with  Peter,  having  impris- 
oned him  for  that  purpose.  The  history  of  this  act 
of  Herod  and  of  the  escape  of  Peter  is  given  in  Acts 
12.  Herod,  being  not  only  disappointed,  but  evident- 
ly alarmed,  at  the  mystery  of  Peter's  escape,  retired 


284  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

immediately  from  Jerusalem  to  Caesarea  and  there 
met  his  sudden  death,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his 
age,  after  seven  years'  reign  in  Palestine. 

8.  The  doininion  of  these  districts,  Judaea, 
Samaria,  and  Galilee,  now  reverted  to  the  prefect  of 
Syria,  and  they  were  fully  incorporated  with  the 
Roman  Empire.* 

JUD^A,    SAMARIA,  AND    GALILEE. 

The  boundaries  of  these  districts  cannot  be 
exactly  traced.  Judasa  was  the  most  important ;  and 
its  north  border  began  at  the  Jordan  and  probably 
ran  up  the  valley  of  the  Farah  to  the  Jewish  city 
Akrabeh,  thence  westward  along  the  course  of  the 
valley  of  the  present  river  Ballut,  coming  out  at  the 
city  Antipatris ;  and  although  the  plain  of  Sharon 
was  politically  a  part  of  Judasa,  Herod  having  pos- 
session of  the  maritime  towns,  yet  strictly  the  line 
followed  the  river  out  to  the  sea. 

This  line  formed  the  north  boundary  of  Judaea 
and  the  south  boundary  of  Samaria,  in  the  strictly 
Jewish  sense. 

Of  Galilee,  the  south  boundary  began  at  the  Jor- 
dan east  of  Beth-shean,  which  was  a  Samaritan  city. 
It  ran  along,  probably,  south  of  Mt.  Gilboa,  westward 
and  just  north  of  Jenin,  the  ancient  En-gannim, 
which  was  within  the  Samaritan  border,  and  probably 

-■■  Merivale,  VI.,  116,  117.  Cassius  Longinus  was  now  appointed, 
A.  D.  44,  to  the  presidency  of  Syria,  and  Cuspius  Fadus  was  appointed 
governor  of  Judaea,  Joseplius,  "Antiquities,"  XIX.,  9:2;  XX.,  1:1.  See 
Maclear,  "New  Testament  History,"  p.  409. 


THE   GOSPEL   FOR   THE   GENTILES.  285 

along-  the  ridge  of  Carmel.  At  the  end  of  the  ridge, 
near  the  sea,  Galilee  seems  to  have  claimed  the  mod- 
ern Haifa,  a  village  then  called  Sycaminon,  and  in 
this  vicinity  the  seashore  was  in  Galilee.  The  bor- 
der line  of  Galilee  thence  retired  inland,  the  coast 
plain  belonging  to  Phoenicia.  It  then  ran  northeast- 
erly to  the  angle  formed  by  the  Leontes  River,  now 
called  the  Kasimiyeh,  then  northward  a  short  dis- 
tance, and  then  east  by  south  to  Banias,  thence  south- 
ward, including  some  towns  east  of  the  upper  Jordan 
and  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  forming  that  part  of  Galilee 
called  "  Galilee  beyond  Jordan." 

The  extreme  southern  boundary  of  Judasa,  in  the 
political  sense,  is  mentioned  in  one  of  the  rabbini- 
cal writings  as  from  Petra  to  Ascalon,  but  Ascalon 
itself  did  not  belong  to  Judaea.* 

The  apostles  now  seem  to  have  "left  Jerusalem 
for  wider  fields  of  action. "f 

9.  After  a  special  religious  consecration  (Acts 
13:3),  Barnabas  and  Saul,  accompanied  by  John 
Mark,  a  nephew  of  Barnabas,  set  out  from  Antioch 
on  the  first  missionary  tour  to  foreign  countries. 

Seleucia  was  nearly  four  miles  north  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Orontes,  upon  which  river  the  city  of 
Antioch  was  built.  From  this  port  the  missionaries 
set  sail  for  Cyprus,  1 30  miles  distant. 

*  For  authorities  and  more  minute  description  see  Conder's  "  Hand- 
book to  the  Bible,"  p.  301,  seq.  For  Galilee  see  Merrill's  "  Galilee  in 
the  time  of  Christ." 

t  Lightfoot  "  On  the  Galatians,"  p.  285.  Maclear,  "  New  Testa- 
ment History,"  p.  40. 


286  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

Salamis  at  this  time  was  a  populous  city  on  the 
southeastern  shore  of  Cyprus.  In  this  city  there  was 
a  colony  of  Jews,  and  Barnabas  was  a  native  of 
Cyprus,  and  therefore  the  visitors  did  not  feel  them- 
selves entirely  strangers.  But  they  passed  along  the 
southern  coast  road  until  Paphos,  lOO  miles  distant, 
was  reached.  Here  the  apostle  Paul  met  with  the 
proconsul  Sergius  Paulus. 

A   PROCONSUL. 

10.  From  the  time  of  Augustus,  B.  C.  27,  the 
provinces  were  of  two  kinds,  Senatorial  and  Impe- 
rial. The  former  were  governed  by  a  proconsul, 
who  was  appointed  by  lot  and  had  no  military  power, 
and  was  in  office  for  one  year  only. 

The  latter,  or  imperial  provinces,  were  governed 
by  a  legate  or  commissioner  chosen  directly  by  the 
emperor,  and  he  served  so  long  as  the  emperor 
wished.  He  always  went  out  to  his  province  with 
military  pomp  as  a  commander. 

11.  Syria  was  an  imperial  province,  and 
was  governed  by  a  legate  or  commissioner  of  the  em- 
peror stationed  at  Antioch.  Judaea,  however,  was  a 
special  province,  and  its  distance  from  Antioch  and 
its  peculiar  people  required  a  special  officer  under 
the  commissioner  at  Antioch,  and  this  officer  was 
called  a  procurator.  He  had  his  headquarters  at 
Caesarea,  Acts  23:23,  wore  the  military  dress,  and 
had  a  cohort  as  a  body-guard.  Matt.  27 :  27,  called  in 
this  passage  "  the  soldiers  of  the  governor ;"  more- 


THE   GOSPEL   FOR   THE   GENTILES.  287 

over,   he   had    the    power  of   life   and  death,  Matt. 
27 :  26,  in  his  own  province. 

13.  At  the  interview  whieli  Saul  liad  with 
the  proconsul,  called  here  the  "  deputy,"  there  was 
one  of  the  class  known  at  that  day  as  sorcerers. 
This  man  greatly  interfered  with  the  apostle's  effort 
to  explain  the  new  faith  to  the  proconsul,  who  had 
requested  instruction. 

13.  Peter  had  encountered  one  of  this  class 
before,  Acts  8 : 9.  The  apostle  now  addressed  the 
so-called  sorcerer  in  terrible  rebuke,  foretelling  his 
immediate  blindness  for  a  season,  and  thereby  show- 
ing that  behind  the  earnest  and  reasonable  presenta- 
tion of  the  great  truths  of  the  new  faith  which  had 
fully  persuaded  the  proconsul  there  lay  the  reserved 
authority  of  so  great  supernatural  power  to  attest  the 
divinity  of  the  doctrine.*  That  this  is  the  meaning 
of  the  verse  in  Acts  1 3  :  1 2  is  evident  from  a  verse  in 
Luke  4 :  32,  which  shows  that  it  was  the  method  of 
confirming  the  doctrine,  and  not  the  doctrine  itself, 
which  caused  the  astonishment  spoken  of  in  the 
verse. 

14.  From  this  time  Saul's  name  is  changed 
into  Paul,  and  the  other  name  never  occurs  again  in 
Scripture.  The  apostle  and  his  companions  now 
sailed  from  Paphos  to  the  city  of  Perga  in  Pamphy- 
lia,  175  miles  northwest.     Mark  left  them  at  Perga 

*■  There  was  a  remarkable  influx  of  Oriental  sorcerers,  astrologers, 
and  soothsayers  at  this  time  into  Rome  and  other  cities,  as  Conybeare 
and  Howson  show,  Vol.  I.,  p.  141. 


288  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

and  returned  to  Jerusalem  for  reasons  not  explained 
in  the  text. 

Perga  exists  as  a  ruin  six  or  seven  miles  from 
the  seacoast  and  about  15  miles  northeast  of  a  sea- 
port called  Adalia  by  the  Turks,  the  ancient  Attalia, 
built  by  Attains,  the  king-  of  Pergamos,  159-138  B. 
C,  and  hence  its  name.  It  has  at  present  about  8,000 
inhabitants,  and  surrounds  the  port  as  an  amphithea- 
tre, the  streets  rising  one  above  another. 

15.  From  Perga  the  apostle  proceeded  to  Anti- 
och,  now  called  Yalobatch,  about  90  miles  north  of 
Perga.  The  plain  upon  which  Perga  is  situated  is 
about  20  miles  wide  on  the  seacoast,  and  stretches 
eastward  for  about  30  miles.  East  of  Perga  the 
Eurymedon  River  comes  down  through  the  plain 
into  the  sea,  and  its  sources  are  high  in  the  ridges 
north  of  Perga.  It  is  probable  that  up  the  valley  of 
this  river  the  apostles  passed  to  the  high  table-land 
of  Pisidia  upon  which  Antioch  is  placed. 

16.  When  they  had  arrived  at  Antioch  they 
awaited  the  Sabbath -gathering  at  the  synagogue, 
and  being,  as  the  custom  was,  invited  to  speak  to  the 
assembled  Jews  and  strangers,  the  apostle  Paul  pre- 
sented the  connection  between  the  promises  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  fulfilment  of  these  promises 
in  the  coming  and  the  teachings  of  Christ. 

The  impression  made  was  so  important  and  favor- 
able that  another  gathering  of  a  great  crowd  assem- 
bled on  the  following  Sabbath.  At  this  time,  how- 
ever, the  Jews  and  Jewish  women  created  so  great 


THE   GOSPEL  FOR   THE   GENTILES.  289 

and  so  public  opposition  that  the  apostle  was  led  to 
announce  that  hereafter  he  should  devote  his  labors 
to  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles  and  leave  the  Jews 
to  the  consequences  of  their  bitter  opposition  to  the 
gospel  he  was  called  to  preach. 

But  a  church  was  planted  here  in  spite  of  the 
opposition,  which  caused  the  departure  of  the  apos- 
tles across  the  country  to  Iconium,  about  85  miles 
southeast. 

ICONIUM. 

17.  This  city  is  located  upon  the  large  plain 
which  stretches  eastward  80  or  90  miles  with  little 
interruption.  On  the  southeast  a  solitary  mountain 
rises  at  a  distance  of  about  30  miles,  "  like  a  lofty 
island  in  the  midst  of  the  sea."*  The  height  of  this 
mountain  is  nearly  4,000  feet  above  the  plain.  In 
March  its  top  is  generally  covered  with  snow.  Here 
are  the  ruins  of  many  tombs,  churches,  and  other 
apparently  public  buildings,  and  these  ruins  have 
given  rise  to  the  Turkish  name  Bin-bir-ka-lessi,  or 
the  "  thousand-and-one  churches."  With  general 
consent  this  place  is  supposed  to  mark  the  site  of 
Lystra,  which  became  the  next  place  of  visit  by  the 
apostles  after  leaving  Iconium.  The  name  of  this 
singular  mountain  in  the  Turkish  is  Kara-dagh,  or 
Black  Mountain. 

The  plain  upon  which  Iconium  is  located  is  sup- 
posed to  be  3,900  feet  above  the  Mediterranean.  Ico- 
nium was  a  Greek  city,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 

*  Walpole,  "  Travels  in  the  East,"  p.  222. 

BIWIral  History  un.I  Ocojraiiliy.  J  -j 


290  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

large  number  of  Greek  ruins  and  inscriptions  yet 
remaining,  many  of  which  are  built  into  the  walls  of 
the  town. 

Here  Barnabas  and  Saul  proceeded  to  work  as  at 
Antioch,  and  addressed  the  Jews  gathered  at  the 
synagogue  in  that  place.  But  although  their  success 
was  great  a  division  of  opinion  resulted,  and  the 
Jews  made  preparations  to  assault  their  visitors,  but 
they  fled  to  Lystra. 

18.  The  Ideiitiflcation  of  Lystra  with  Bin- 
bir-ka-lessi  has  not  been  proved,  but  the  supposed 
position  at  the  ruins  above  mentioned  is  on  a  large 
depression  on  the  north  side  of  the  Kara-dagh 
Mountain.  The  village,  not  far  off,  is  inhabited  by 
Greeks. 

At  Lystra  the  two  missionaries  found  no  syna- 
gogue, and  addressed  the  citizens  in  some  public 
place.  Here  Paul  restored  a  man  who  had  been  born 
lame,  and  the  consequent  amazement  produced  by 
this  miracle  induced  the  priest  of  Jupiter  to  bring 
oxen  and  garlands  to  the  gates  of  the  temple  with 
the  intent  of  offering  sacrifices  to  Paul  and  Barnabas, 
who,  despite  their  most  earnest  protestations,  found 
it  difficult  to  prevent  the  sacrifices. 

But  the  Jewish  enmity  was  apparent  again.  Some 
of  the  members  of  the  synagogues  in  Antioch  and 
Iconium  followed  the  apostle  and  Barnabas  across 
the  plain,  and  so  bitterly  prejudiced  the  inhabitants 
that  they  stoned  Paul  and  dragged  him  out  of  the 
city,  .supposing  him  to  be  dead.      Under  the  care  of 


THE   GOSPEL   FOR   THE   GENTILES.  29I 

the  disciples  he  revived,  and  the  next  day  departed 
for  Derbe. 

Derbe  has  not  yet  been  identified,  but  it  is  sup- 
posed to  be  at  a  ruin  about  25  miles  east  of  Kara- 
dagh,  called  Divle. 

19.  There  Barnabas  and  Paul  made  appar- 
ently a  short  visit,  during  which  they  preached  to 
many ;  but  nothing  more  is  stated  than  that  they 
now  returned  upon  the  same  line  of  travel,  revisiting 
and  encouraging  their  converts  at  Lystra,  Iconium, 
and  Antioch,  and  thence  returning  to  Perga. 

Here  they  remained  and  preached,  and  then  de- 
parted for  Attalia,  the  seaport,  distant  about  15  miles 
southwest,  whence  they  sailed  on  return  to  Antioch 
in  Syria. 

20.  But  the  old  question  of  observance  of  the 
Law  of  Moses,  which  had  been  agitated  before  and 
had  never  been  satisfactorily  quieted,  now  reappeared 
under  such  conditions  that  it  demanded  immediate 
and  most  serious  attention.  Some  troublesome  Jew- 
ish converts  visiting  Antioch  proclaimed,  as  if  charged 
with  the  authority  of  the  elders  at  Jerusalem,  that 
the  Greek  and  other  Gentile  converts  must  submit  to 
the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  Law  or  they 
could  not  be  saved.  The  discussion  became  so  un- 
pleasant at  Antioch  that  a  delegation,  consisting  of 
the  apostle  Paul,  Barnabas,  and  others,  went  to  Jeru- 
salem to  present  the  subject  to  a  general  council  for 
decision. 

21.  After  tlic  discussion  in  this  general  conn- 


292  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

cil,  it  was  decided  that  nothing-  should  be  required 
of  the  new  Gentile  converts  except  abstinence 
"  from  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  from  blood,  and 
from  things  strangled,  and  from  fornication."  With 
this,  the  only  concession  to  the  Law  of  Moses,  they 
returned  to  Antioch  and  announced  to  the  assembled 
multitudes  the  decision  of  the  council,  which  now 
and  for  ever  set  the  question  at  rest.  Henceforward 
all  Christian  converts  were  free  from  the  restrictions 
and  rites  of  the  Mosaic  Ceremonial  Law. 


THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  MISSIONARY  TOURS.     293 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   SECOND   AND   THIRD    MISSIONARY   TOURS. 

1.  A.  D.  53.  A  few  days  afterward,  Acts 
15  :  36,  Paul  and  Silas  set  out  upon  a  second  journey. 
The  expressed  object  was  to  revisit  the  churches 
they  had  planted.  Barnabas  preferred  his  nephew  as 
companion ;  but  Paul,  fearing  that  the  desertion 
which  had  previously  taken  place  on  the  part  of 
Mark  might  be  repeated,  preferred  to  associate  him- 
self with  Silas. 

Barnabas  and  Mark  left  for  Cyprus,  while  Paul 
and  Silas  started  for  Derbe,  not  as  before  by  sea,  but 
northward,  by  land,  across  the  mountain  known  as 
Amanus,  the  pass  of  this  range  being  about  twenty 
miles  north  of  Antioch  in  Syria.  This  pass  is  now 
known  as  that  of  Beilan,  which  lets  the  traveller 
down  upon  the  famous  plain  of  Issus,  where,  B.  C. 
333,  Alexander  the  Great  had  met  and  defeated  the 
Persian  king  Darius.  Crossing  this  plain  to  the  ex- 
treme northeastern  end  of  the  Mediterranean,  now 
called  the  Gulf  of  Iskanderun  (or  Alexandretta),  an 
additional  distance  of  about  twenty-five  or  thirty 
miles  from  the  mountain  pass,  they  had  then  the 
towns  of  Mopsuesta  and  Tarsus  on  the  Roman  road 
on  the  plain  directly  west  as  they  turned  around  the 
corner  of  the  coast.* 

*■  Conybeare  and  Howson  place  Adaiia  and  ^gae  on  the  course,  but 
Adana  is  thought  to  have  been  planted  by  Justinian,  and  yEgae  if  at  Aias, 
35  miles  southeast  of  Adana  on  the  coast,  was  too  far  out  of  the  way. 


294  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

2,  It  appears,  however,  that  they  soon  reached 
the  pass  north  of  Tarsus,  by  which  they  made  their 
ascent  to  the  great  high  tableland.  This  pass  was 
probably  that  of  the  so-called  "  Silician  Gates," 
twenty-two  or  twenty-three  miles  north  of  Tarsus, 
at  the  top  of  which  is  the  supposed  site  of  Derbe, 
about  fifty  miles  a  little  north  of  west,  upon  the 
great  plain  we  have  before  described. 

3.  From  Derbe  they  passed  westward  to  Lys- 
tra.  Here  Paul  found  Timothy,  a  young  convert 
from  the  last  visit,  as  mentioned.  Acts  i6.  Thence 
they  came  to  Iconium. 

They  now  left  the  former  route,  and  judging 
from  the  direction  of  the  old  roads  and  general 
routes  of  travel  between  important  cities  at  that 
time,  it  is  probable  that  their  course  was  through 
Laodicea  (now  called  Ladik),-  Philomelium,  and  Syn- 
nada,  the  last  two  known  at  present  as  Ak-sher  and 
Eski  Kara-hisser,  or  the  "  old  black  castle." 

Ladik  is  twenty-four  or  five  miles  northwest  of 
Iconium  and  has  many  remains  of  antiquity.  It  is 
now  a  small  place  of  only  500  inhabitants.  Ak-sher, 
or  the  "  white  city  "  of  the  Turks,  is  about  sixty-five 
miles  northwest  of  Iconium  and  contains  about  1,500 
houses,  and  is  the  Philomelium  of  Strabo,  the  geog- 
rapher. There  is  a  remarkable  salt  lake  ten  miles 
north  of  it,  which  is  dry  in  summer  and  affords  much 
salt  at  that  season,  but  in  the  winter  is  full  and  ex- 
tends some  twenty  or  thirty  miles  westward. 

*  Not  the  Laodicea  of  Scripture. 


THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  MISSIONARY  TOURS.     295 

4.  The  next  point  which  seems  to  have  been 
on  the  course  of  travel  was  near  the  great  centre  of 
the  present  opium  manufacture  of  Asia  Minor,  name- 
ly, the  place  called  "the  opium  black  castle,"  or 
Aphium  Kara-hissar  of  the  Turks.  This  place  is 
on  the  northern  base  of  a  hill  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river  of  the  Ak-sher  lake  before  spoken  of. 
This  river  is  a  small  stream  whose  source  is  in  the 
hills  west  of  the  town,  but  it  is  lost  in  the  lake,  hav- 
ing no  other  outlet.  Very  fine  marble  quarries  ex- 
isted in  this  region  in  ancient  times.* 

5.  From  this  i>lace  it  is  thought  probable, 
judging,  as  we  have  said,  from  the  lines  of  travel 
well  known  in  those  days,  that  the  missionaries  went 
northeastward,  first  to  Pessinus,  now  Bali-hissar,  and 
then  Ancyra,  the  present  Angora,  famous  for  its  fine- 
haired  goats  and  containing  a  population  of  perhaps 
35,000.  But  nothing  is  known  certainly  of  the  ex- 
act places  visited,  only  that  it  is  stated  they  went 
"throughout  Phrygia  and  the  region  of  Galatia," 
and  then  probably  on  the  same  route  back  to  Syn- 
nada,  and  "  passing  by,"  that  is  on  the  borders  of 
Mysia,  came  down  to  Troas. 

6.  Troas  was  at  this  time  a  very  important  sea- 
port on  the  northwest  of  Asia  Minor  near  the  site  of 
ancient  Troy  and  opposite  the  southeast  extremity 
of  the  island  of  Tenedos,  four  miles  distant.  It  is 
now  called  Eski  Stamboul,  i.  e.,  Old  Constantinople. 

7.  From  here   Paul  and  Silas  set  sail  directly 

*  Strabo,  12;  died  A.  D.  25;  Claudian  in  "  Eutropius,"  2,  A.  D.  395. 


296  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

towards  Samothrace,  an  island  in  the  JEgean  Sea 
northwest  from  Troas,  and  landed  at  Neapolis  on 
the  shore  of  Macedonia,  Thence  they  travelled 
about  twelve  miles  north  to  Philippi,  which  was  a 
Roman  military  colony.  Here  the  events  occurred 
which  are  described  in  Acts  16: 12-40. 

8.  From  Philippi  the  travellers  took  the  Ro- 
man road  to  Amphipolis.  This  city  stood  on  high 
ground  about  three  miles  from  the  sea  and  thirty- 
three  from  Philippi.  It  was  colonized  by  Athenians 
and  called  Amphipolis  from  being  nearly  surrounded 
by  the  river  Strymon. 

9.  The  next  point  reached  was  Apollonia,  but 
the  exact  location  is  not  known.  It  is  laid  down  in 
some  of  the  ancient  itineraries  as  being  thirty  miles 
from  Amphipolis.  Thence  they  travelled  to  Thessa- 
lonica,  thirty-seven  miles  distant  from  Apollonia. 
This  was  a  very  important  place  and  is  even  now 
second  only  to  Constantinople.  Its  present  name  is 
Saloniki  and  it  is  at  the  head  of  the  Thermaic  Gulf. 
It  was  a  busy  commercial  town  at  the  time  of  the 
visit  of  the  two  missionaries.  Here  Paul  and  Silas 
remained  for  several  weeks,  publicly  explaining  and 
proving  the  new  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  Acts 
17:  I-IO. 

10.  Opposition  from  the  Jeivs  arising,  they 
left  for  Bercea.  Beroea  is  now  called  Verria,  and  is 
sixty  miles  west  by  north  from  Thessalonica.  It  is 
a  large  town  at  present,  having  some  20,000  inhab- 
itants.    Here  the  usual  vexation  and  opposition  on 


THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  MISSIONARY  TOURS.     297 

the  part  of  the  Jews  made  it  necessary  that  the 
apostle  Paul  should  leave  the  town,  and  at  night  and 
alone  he  went  down  to  the  seashore  to  a  shipping 
town  about  twenty-five  miles  distant,  called  Dium, 
and  from  thence  he  set  sail  for  Athens,  which  was 
by  sea  about  270  miles  distant.  We  now  may  read 
the  history  as  recorded  in  Acts  17. 

11.  Athens  at  the  time  of  the  apostle's  visit 
was  included  in  the  Roman  province  of  Achaia.  It 
was  not  then  in  its  palmiest  days  of  prosperity,  but  it 
was  nevertheless  the  centre  of  art  and  learning  and 
a  city  of  great  voluptuousness  and  idolatry.  It  con- 
tained one  large  Agora,  "  the  market "  or  place  of 
assembling  of  its  citizens,  a  large  square  or  open 
place  which  not  only  contained  but  was  surrounded 
by  the  finest  sculptures  and  buildings  perhaps  at 
that  time  existing  in  the  world.  The  apostle  came 
here  alone,  i  Thess,  3:1,  and  while  waiting  for  his 
companions  he  met  and  preached  to  many  in  the 
Agora,  until  he  attracted  so  much  attention  that  he 
was  invited  to  the  great  assembling-place  on  the 
north  of  the  Agora  called  the  Areopagus,  where  the 
most  important  court  or  council  of  the  Areopagus 
was  held.  Solon  gave  the  court  censorial  and  politi- 
cal powers,  but  St.  Paul  was  called  here  more  because 
of  the  curious  desire  of  the  Athenians  to  hear  about 
this  new  doctrine.  At  this  place  he  delivered  that 
masterly  address  recorded  in  Acts  1 7.* 

His  labors  at  Athens  did  not  meet  with   much 

*  Conybeare  and  Howson,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  440-444,  second  edition. 
13* 


298  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

success,  although  some  were  persuaded  and  believed, 
and  one  of  the  court  itself,  Dionysius  by  name,  who 
afterwards  became  a  bishop  of  a  Christian  commu- 
nity formed  there.  Paul  soon  left  Athens  for  Cor- 
inth.* 

13.  Corinth  was  a  rival  of  Athens  in  luxury  and 
magnificence,  in  commerce  and  in  wealth,  and  was 
perhaps  even  in  art  second  only  to  Athens.  It  was 
situated  upon  the  isthmus  of  the  Peloponnesus  and 
noted  for  its  Acropolis,  built  upon  an  elevation  1,886 
feet  above  the  city  on  the  south.  It  was  sacked  and 
nearly  destroyed  by  the  Romans,  B.  C.  146,  and 
nearly  all  the  treasures  of  art  were  carried  to  Rome, 
but  the  city  was  restored  under  Julius  Caesar.  Only 
a  few  ruins  remain.  The  modern  town  is  on  the 
Gulf  of  Corinth,  three  miles  north  from  the  site  of 
the  old  city,  and  contains  about  2,600  inhabitants.  It 
is  45  miles  a  little  south  of  due  west  from  Athens.f 
Here  Paul  remained  for  nearly  two  years,  A.  D.  52, 
53,  and  preached  with  great  success  ;  and  while  here 
he  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  :j;  and 
planted  other  churches  in  Achaia,  2  Cor.  1:1. 

13.  Cenclirese  was  five  and  a  half  miles  east- 
southeast  of  Corinth  on  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of 
^gina.  It  was  an  important  port  at  the  time  when 
the  apostle  visited  it.  At  present  it  is  called  Kekri- 
ais§  and  is  not  inhabited ;  the  only  remains  are  of  an 

*  Ayres'  Dictionary,  "  Athens." 

t  See  account  in  Lippincott's  "Gazetteer." 

X  To  the  Church  at  Thessalonica. 

§  As  an  educated  Greek  lady  wrote  it  for  the  author,  Kexpi-alC' 


THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  MISSIONARY  TOURS.    299 

ancient  dry  dock.     From  this  place  Paul  set  sail  for 
Ephesus,  235  miles  almost  due  east. 

14,  Epliesus  is  35  miles  south-southeast  from 
Smyrna,  near  where  the  river  Cayster  empties  into 
the  Gulf  of  Scala  Nova.  It  was  the  capital  of  Ionia 
and  had  one  of  the  seven  churches  mentioned  in  the 
book  of  Revelation.  The  ruins  which  remain  con- 
sist chiefly  of  a  magnificent  theatre,  supposed  to  be 
large  enough  to  accommodate  30,000  people,  a  stadium 
or  gymnasium,  besides  walls  and  towers  and  remains 
of  the  temple  of  Diana,  for  which  it  was  most  famous. 
The  worship  of  Diana  was  attended  with  the  study 
and  practice  of  magic  in  various  forms,  and  the 
"  magical  letters  "  spoken  of  by  many  classic  authors* 
as  "  Ephesian  letters  "  were  in  use  at  the  time  of  the 
apostle's  visit.  The  temple  was  in  its  splendor  also 
at  that  time.f 

On  this  the  first  visit,  A.  D.  54,  of  the  apostle  to 
Ephesus  he  remained  but  a  short  time,  and  then  de- 
parted for  Jerusalem,  Acts  18:19-21,  and  thence 
down  to  Antioch. 

THE   THIRD    MISSIONARY   TOUR. 

15.  In  this  tour  the  startlng'-place  was  at 

Antioch,  as  in  the  former  tour.  The  churches  plant- 
ed in  Galatia  and  Phrygia  were  visited,  perhaps  on 
the   line   of   travel  previously   chosen,  and    then   a 

*  Pliny,  36,  chap.  14;  Strabo,  12  and  14;  Mela,  etc. 

t  Mucianus,  A.  D.  75,  says  that  in  his  time  the  woodwork  appeared 
as  new,  though  nearly  400  years  old.  Tristram,  "Seven  Churches  of 
Asia,"  p.  14. 


300  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

course  was  taken  direct  to  Ephesus,  which  now  be- 
came the  centre  of  the  apostle's  labors,  A.  D.  54-57. 

16.  It  was  at  the  close  of  this  visit  that  the  re- 
markable tumult  described  in  Acts  19  took  place, 
A.  D.  57. 

Paul  now  left  Ephesus  for  Philippi  by  Neapolis, 
as  in  the  previous  journey,  and  thence  to  Thessa- 
lonica  and  Beroea,  and  onward  by  land  to  Corinth,  a 
journey  of  about  220  miles  through  Thessaly  and 
Achaia. 

17.  But  it  seems,  Rom.  15  :  19,  that  at  Thessaloni- 
ca  Paul  resolved  to  visit  the  lands  west  of  Macedonia 
as  far  as  Illyricum.  This  was  probably  in  the  sum- 
mer of  A.  D.  57,  and  perhaps  the  autumn.  The  jour- 
ney was  along  the  Roman  road  to  Dyrrachium,  about 
200  miles,  and  across  several  ranges  of  mountains. 

While  at  Dyrrachium  it  is  probable  he  made  a 
tour  about  1 70  miles  to  the  south  to  Neapolis,  on  the 
Bay  of  Arta,  and  returning  by  the  city  ApoUonia  on 
the  Adriatic,  came  back  to  Beroea  and  thence  to  Cor- 
inth. The  region  which  he  visited  was  that  Dalma- 
tia  referred  to  in  2  Tim.  4:10.  Dalmatia  was  included 
in  the  greater  region  of  Illyricum,  and  was  upon  the 
shore  of  the  Adriatic,  being  contiguous  to  Moesia  on 
the  north  and  Macedonia  on  the  east. 

18.  After  wintering"  at  Corinth,  Paul  with 
several  friends.  Acts  20 : 4,  returned  to  Achaia,  Beroea, 
and  the  towns  previously  visited,  to  Neapolis,  and 
thence  by  sea  to  Troas.  At  this  place  the  events 
stated  in  Acts  20  took  place. 


THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  MISSIONARY  TOURS.    3OI 

Remaining  a  short  time  at  Troas  while  his  com- 
panions took  ship,  Paul  walked  across  the  promon- 
tory to  Assos,  about  25  miles  distant  by  the  road, 
and  arrived  in  time  to  meet  the  ship,  which  had  to 
stop  at  that  city.  The  place  Assos  is  now  a  small 
village  known  by  the  name  Beiram. 

19.  From  this  place  they  sailed  by  Mitylene, 
the  capital  of  the  island  of  the  same  name,  now 
called  Lesbos.  Going  between  the  islands  and  the 
shore,  they  passed  Chios,  Samos,  and  the  promon- 
tory and  cape  at  Trogyllium  on  the  then  Ionian 
coast.  At  Miletus  Paul  stopped  and  sent  for  the 
elders  at  Ephesus  while  the  vessel  was  exchanging 
freight.  Miletus  is  about  50  miles  south  of  Eph- 
esus. Passing  Cos,  which  is  about  55  miles  from 
Miletus,  and  then  the  island  of  Rhodes,  they  put  into 
Patera  in  Lycia,  which  was  a  seaport  of  the  town  of 
Xanthus,  famous  for  its  oracle.  Thence,  taking  an- 
other vessel.  Acts  21:2,  Paul  sailed  directly  for  Tyre, 
on  the  Phoenician  coast.  From  this  city  he  and  his 
party  sailed  for  Ptolemais,  28  miles  southward,  where 
the  sea  voyage  ended. 

30.  The  rest  of  the  journey  to  Jerusalem  was 
on  foot  by  Caesarea.  The  occurrences  at  Caesarea  are 
narrated  in  Acts  21,  and  on  his  arrival  at  Jerusalem 
Paul  was  seized  in  the  Temple  by  a  mob  comprised 
of  resident  Jews,  urged  on  by  some  who  were  in 
attendance  upon  the  feast  from  foreign  parts  who 
had  seen  Paul  abroad  in  some  Asiatic  place. 

Paul  was   now  protected  by  the  military  inter- 


302  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

ference  of  the  Roman  chief  " captain  of  the  band" 
stationed  at  the  Temple.  The  history  is  minutely 
given  us  in  Acts  21 :  32-40.  By  the  order  of  Festus 
the  governor,  called  the  procurator  of  Judaea,  who 
succeeded  Felix  A.  D.  61,  Paul  was  taken  to  Caesarea. 

21.  On  Paul's  appeal  to  Caesar  he  was  taken 
on  board  a  vessel  sailing  from  Caesarea  and  commit- 
ted to  the  care  of  a  centurion.  Acts  27 :  i. 

The  course  of  the  vessel,  as  stated  Acts  27,  was 
first  to  Sidon,  where  a  short  stay  was  made.  Then 
"under  Cyprus,"  that  is  to  the  east  of  the  island, 
as  the  winds  were  from  the  northwest  and  contrary, 
they  "  tacked  "  to  Myra,  a  city  of  Lycia.  This  city 
stands  upon  a  hill  about  two  miles  back  from  the 
shore.  It  is  now  called  by  its  ancient  name  by  the 
Greeks.     Its  port  is  Andriaca. 

22.  The  course  thence  was  to  Cnidus,  which 
is  at  the  western  end  of  a  peninsula  between  the 
islands  Rhodes  and  Cos;  there  they  changed  their 
course  to  the  southward  and  passed  cape  Salmone, 
on  the  extreme  east  of  the  island  of  Crete.  The 
wind  now  was  more  ahead,  that  is,  against  them. 
Hence  they  "hardly,"  meaning  "with  difficulty," 
reached  Fair  Havens,  near  which  was  the  city  of 
Lasea.  It  is  ninety  miles  from  Cnidus  to  Cape  Sal- 
mone and  seventy  from  Salmone  to  Lasea.  The 
island  of  Crete  is  160  miles  long,  and  they  remained 
under  Crete  and  near  the  shore,  hoping  to  reach  Phoe- 
nice,  which  is  about  forty  miles  from  Lasea. 

23.  They  had   not    sailed  more   than  about 


THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  MISSIONARY  TOURS.     303 

twenty  miles  before  the  wind,  which  had  been  from 
the  south,  changed  around  and  blew  so  violently 
from  the  east  that  the  vessel  became  unmanageable 
and  they  "  let  her  drive."  The  course  was  now  west 
by  north  seven  degrees,  and  this  course  was  kept 
from  Clauda  to  Melita,  about  500  miles.  Clauda  is 
south  of  Crete  twenty  miles. 

MALTA. 

24.  Malta  is  the  largest  of  a  group  of  islands, 
the  one  at  that  time  called  Melita,  now  Malta,  being 
the  easternmost.  The  shore  is  almost  entirely  pre- 
cipitous ;  two  or  three  small  bays  are  found  on  the 
northern  shore,  one  of  which  is  supposed  to  be  that 
into  which  Paul's  ship  was  driven.  It  is  fifteen 
miles  from  the  eastern  end  of  the  island,  which  is 
twenty  miles  in  length,  and  this  is  the  only  bay  on 
that  side  with  a  stream  emptying  into  its  waters. 
The  stream  is  only  a  very  small  brook  coming  down 
from  a  source  in  the  southwest.  It  was  running  in 
November  when  the  writer  visited  the  locality. 

25.  Acts  27:27  to  28:10  should  be  read  in 
this  connection.  The  island  of  Malta  contains 
many  ancient  remains  of  Phoenician,  Greek,  and 
Gothic  construction.  In  the  Library  at  Valetta  are 
three  medals  and  other  objects  found  on  the  island 
said  to  contain  Phoenician  letters,  and  Sir  W.  Drum- 
mond  has  translated  a  Punic  legend  found  on  a 
square  stone  in  a  sepulchral  cave  which  states  that  it 
marks  the  burial-place  of  Hannibal. 


304  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

26.  After  three  months'  stay  on  this  island 
Paul's  company  proceeded  on  their  way  to  Rome, 
stopping  at  Syracuse  three  days.  Syracuse  at  this 
time  seems  to  have  been  very  populous.  It  was  on 
the  eastern  part  of  Sicily  and  on  the  coast,  and  was 
the  residence,  at  various  times,  of  some  of  the  most 
celebrated  philosophers  and  poets,  Plato,  Simonides, 
Zeno,  and  Cicero ;  and  here  Archimedes  lost  his  life 
at  the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  Romans. 

27.  Thence  the  vessel  passed  to  Rhegium, 
now  called  Reggio  (pronounced  red' jo).  This  place, 
in  Calabria,  is  the  southernmost  city  and  seaport  of 
Italy,  and  was  once  a  renowned  city  eight  miles 
southeast  of  Messina  across  the  strait  of  the  same 
name.     It  has  a  population  now  of  about  20,000. 

28.  The  next  day  they  came  to  Puteoli,  now 
Pozzuoli  (pronounced  pot-soo-o'-lee)  on  a  gulf  of  the 
same  name  seven  miles  southwest  of  Naples.  Its 
vicinity  was  celebrated  as  the  residence  of  wealthy 
Romans  and  the  port  was  an  important  one.  But  the 
land  has  sunken,  as  the  writer  found  many  evidences 
that  parts  of  the  ancient  city  were  covered  with  the 
waters  of  the  sea. 

29.  The  main  Roman  road,  called  the  Appian 
Way,  was  now  taken,  upon  which  was  the  market- 
place called  Apii  Forum,  forty-three  miles  from 
Rome.  Its  site  is  supposed  to  be  marked  by  some 
ruins  near  Treponti.  Farther  on  was  a  place  called 
the  "  Three  Taverns,"  about  thirty-three  Roman 
miles  from  the  city  and  near  the  present  Cisterna. 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES.  305 


CHAPTER    IX. 

PAUL  AT   ROME.       THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.       COLOSSE 
AND   HIERAPOLIS. 

1.  After  their  arrival  at  Rome,  Paul  was  per- 
mitted to  dwell  by  himself  with  a  soldier  who  kept 
him  and  to  whom  he  was  bound  with  a  chain,  Acts 
28  :  20,  For  two  years  Paul  remained  at  Rome  in  a 
hired  house.  Acts  28 :  30,  teaching  and  preaching  to 
all  those  who  came  to  visit  him,  and  no  one  forbade 
him,  for  the  Jews  at  Rome  were  under  so  great  fear 
of  the  Government  that  they  were  exceedingly  cau- 
tious to  cause  no  uproar.  They  had  not  long  before 
been  expelled  from  the  city  in  consequence  of  an  up- 
roar, and  they  were  forced  to  express  any  objections 
to  the  new  faith  in  a  very  quiet  way.* 

2.  We  can  learn  nothing"  of  the  subsequent 
life  of  the  apostle  except  from  notices  which  occur 
in  the  various  epistles.  It  appears  that  the  Jews 
were  unable  to  gather  any  definite  charge  sufficient 
to  sustain  them  in  any  plea  against  Paul.  But  dur- 
ing this  long  residence  at  Rome  several  epistles 
were  written  and  many  converts  were  made  through 
the  apostle's  efforts. 

3.  For  his  success  in  x)reacliing  see  Phile. 
14.    It  is  evident  that  Luke  was  with  him,  Col.  4:15; 

*  Judaeos   impulsore   Chresto  assidu6  tumultuantes   Roma  expulit. 
Suetonius,  Claudian,  25. 


306  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

Phile.  24 ;  Timothy  also,  Phile.  i ;  Col.  1:1;  Phil. 
1:1;  and  others ;  see  Col.  4:7;  Eph.  6:21  ;  and  John 
Mark  was  found  "profitable  to  him,"  Col.  4:10. 
2  Tim.  4:  i;  Phile.  24;  Col.  4:14;  2  Tim.  4:10, 
wherein  we  see  that  Demas  afterward  forsook  him ; 
Col.  I  :  7. 

At  this  time  the  case  of  Onesimus  is  interesting ; 
see  Epistle  to  Philemon.  Onesimus  had  escaped  to 
Rome  and  had  been  converted  to  the  true  faith, 
but  after  his  conversion  returned  with  a  letter  from 
Paul  to  his  master. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  was  now  written 
and  sent  probably  by  Onesimus  and  Tychicus,  the 
latter  being  charged  with  another  epistle,  namely, 
to  the  Ephesians. 

These  letters  were  written  probably  in  the  spring 
of  A.  D.  62.  About  this  time  Paul  was  cheered  by 
an  offering  sent  from  the  church  in  Philippi,  who 
remembered  the  apostle  in  his  confinement,  Phil.  4. 
This  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  was  also  written  from 
Rome  and  sent  by  the  same  one  that  brought  the 
gift  from  the  church,  namely,  Epaphroditus. 

4.  All  we  know  of  the  apostle  after  this  is  from 
ecclesiastical  writers  of  the  early  Christian  church. 
From  these  it  has  been  supposed  that  he  was  tried 
and  acquitted  of  the  charges  against  him  and  that 
after  this  he  visited  some  of  the  churches  he  had 
been  instrumental  in  planting. 

In  this  route  it  is  thought  that  from  Rome  he 
went  by  Brundusium,   thence   to   Dyrrachium   and 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES.  307 

onward  to  Macedonia  and  to  the  churches  there.  It 
is  even  thought  that  now  he  visited  Spain,  A.  D.  64, 
in  accordance  with  an  expression  in  Rom.  15  :  24,  28. 
But  these  visits  are  only  conjectural. 

5.  It  seems  however  that  he  was  again  arrest- 
ed and  sent  to  Rome,  some  think  while  spending  a 
time  at  Nicopolis,  on  the  Bay  of  Actium.  In  this 
second  imprisonment  he  was  confined  as  a  malefac- 
tor, 2  Tim.  2:9,  and  none  would  visit  him  or  stand 
by  him,  2  Tim.  i  :  16;  4:  16,  and  now  it  is  said  the 
second  Epistle  to  Timothy  was  written.  Whether 
Timothy  ever  arrived  in  Rome  after  this  is  not 
known.  But  the  second  trial  came  on,  and  the  his- 
tory states  that  he  was  condemned  to  be  beheaded ; 
and  beyond  the  city  walls,  along  the  road  to  Ostia, 
the  port  of  Rome,  he  was  led  out  and  executed,  a 
Roman  swordsman  beheading  him. 

6.  Besides  the  apostle  Paul,  only  three  ap- 
pear as  writers  in  the  remaining  parts  of  Scripture  ; 
these  are  James,  "  the  Lord's  brother,"  Peter,  and 
John.  James  is  author  of  one  of  the  general  epistles, 
evidently  intended  for  universal  use  and  not  sent  to 
any  one  church,  and  hence  called  "  The  Epistle  Gen- 
eral of  James."  It  makes  the  twentieth  of  the  New 
Testament  books. 

Peter  is  last  mentioned  when  at  Antioch,  as  re- 
corded in  Gal.  2:11-21.  It  is  supposed  from  i  Pet. 
5:13  that  he  remained  in  Babylon  in  Chaldcca,  where 
at  an  early  period  many  Jews  were  settled,  as  Jose- 
phus  shows.     He  wrote  two  epistles,  which  form  the 


308  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

twenty-first  and  twenty-second  books  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  these  were  written  apparently  in 
his  old  age.  The  tradition  is  that  he  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom in  Rome. 

THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES   OF  ASIA. 

7.  The  only  other  writer  of  the  New  Testament 
not  yet  mentioned  is  John.  He  wrote  three  epistles 
and  the  book  of  Revelation,  in  which  are  mentioned 
the  churches  of  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  Pergamos,  Thya- 
tira,  Sardis,  Philadelphia,  and  Laodicea,  Rev,  i  :  ii. 

Ephesus  has  already  been  described. 

8.  Smyrna  was  then  "  the  ornament  of  Asia, 
with  the  finest  harbor  in  the  world."  Although  no 
mention  is  made  of  it  in  the  book  of  Acts  nor  in  any 
of  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  it  may  have  been  one  of 
the  earliest  churches  founded  by  St.  John.  Eratos- 
thenes states  that  Smyrna  was  built  by  the  Cumse- 
ans  B.  C.  1015,  and  according  to  Pliny  it  took  its 
name  from  an  Amazon,  Smyrna  by  name,  who  found- 
ed it.  In  the  time  of  the  apostles  it  had  a  temple 
and  hot  springs.*  It  is  at  present  a  populous  city, 
built  however  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  ancient  site, 
and  contains  about  200,000  inhabitants. 

9.  Pergamos  is  50  miles  nearly  due  north  from 
Smyrna.  It  is  described  during  the  Roman  period 
as  the  finest  city  of  their  new  province  of  Asia.  Its 
possession  by  the  Romans  was  due  to  the  gift  of 
Attains  its  king,  B.  C.  132. 

■■■•  Strabo,  XIV.,  chap.  i. 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES.  309 

Pergamos  was  celebrated  for  its  extensive  collec- 
tions of  libraries  and  for  the  patronage  of  art  and 
science  at  its  court.  All  the  ruins  now  found  are  of 
the  Roman  period  except  a  tunnel  over  the  river 
Selinus,  now  a  small  stream.  This  double  tunnel 
appears  to  be  extremely  ancient,  and  is  supposed  to 
be  of  the  time  of  Attains.  It  runs  under  the  present 
town  of  Bergamah  for  600  feet,  with  arches  of  40  feet 
diameter  and  20  feet  high.  The  present  town  con- 
tains about  30,000  inhabitants.  As  the  artisans  were 
skilled  in  preparing  skins  for  manuscripts,  the  skins 
themselves  were  known  by  the  name  of  the  place, 
and  hence  the  name  "  parchment,"  which  is  only  a 
change  of  the  ancient  name  of  Pergamos. 

10.  Tliyatira  is  now  called  Ak-hissar,  "the 
white  castle,"  from  a  castle  on  the  white  hill  back  of 
the  plain  upon  which  the  city  is  built.  The  plain 
has  always  been  inhabited,  and  was  celebrated  at 
and  long  before  the  period  of  the  apostles  for  its 
manufacture  of  dyes,*  and  this  art  is  alluded  to  in 
Acts  16: 14.  It  never  had  any  reputation  otherwise, 
but  was  always  a  busy  trading  city.  It  is  52  or  53 
miles  northeast  of  Smyrna,  and  was  a  Macedonian 
colony  in  the  time  of  Strabo,t  but  before  his  time  it 
was  called  Pelopia,:}:  upon  which  site  the  colony  was 
placed  by  the  Syrian  king  Seleucus  Nicator,  a  gen- 
eral of  Alexander  the  Great. 


*  Pliny  v.,  chap.  31. 

t  Even  in  the  time  of  Homer,  Iliad,  IV.,  141. 

t  Strabo,  XIII.,  chap.  4,  ^4. 


3IO  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

11.  Sardls,  the  once  proud  capital  of  Lydia,  the 
residence  of  Croesus,  the  wealthiest  monarch  of  his 
age,  and  "  the  queen  of  Asia,"*  is  now  utterly  deso- 
late. The  site  is  about  50  miles  east  of  Smyrna,  and 
the  river  Pactolus  is  on  the  west.  It  is  now  called 
Sart,  and  there  are  to  be  found  only  two  or  three 
huts  and  a  water-mill. 

If  Smyrna  be  taken  as  a  centre  of  a  great  circle, 
the  three  cities  last  mentioned  will  be  nearly  on  the 
circumference :  Pergamos  north,  Thyatira  north- 
east, and  Sardis  east,  each  about  50  miles  from  the 
centre. 

12.  Philadelphia,  the  next  in  order  as  men- 
tioned in  Revelation,  is  east  of  Sardis  about  30  miles, 
on  the  northeastern  slope  of  Mt.  Tmolus,  near  the 
little  stream  of  the  Cogamus,  which  winds  about  on 
the  plain  and  falls  into  the  Hermus  near  Sardis.  It 
received  its  name  from  its  founder,  Attains  Phila- 
delphus,  king  of  Pergamos,  B.  C.  about  140  years. 
Strabo  says  that  the  city  was  subject  to  frequent 
earthquakes,!  and  Tacitus  says  that  Philadelphia  was 
nearly  entirely  destroyed  by  an  earthquake  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius. :{:  Although  never  a  city  of  much 
prominence,  it  has  outlasted  Ephesus,  Sardis,  and 
Laodicea.  One-third  of  the  present  population,  15,- 
000,  are  Christians  of  the  Greek  Church.  It  is  still 
surrounded  by  walls,  but  they  are  very  much  dilapi- 
dated. 

••■  Tristram,  "Seven  Churches." 
t  Strabo  XIII.,  chap.  4,  ^  10. 
J  "Annals,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  47. 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES.  3II 

13.  Laodicea  was  once  a  rich  and  flourishing' 
city,  but  nothing  remains  of  it  but  a  vast  stadium,  a 
theatre,  and  a  gymnasium.  Laodicea  is  nearly  100 
miles  due  east  of  Ephesus,  Colosse  is  lo  or  12  miles 
southeast,  and  Hierapolis  about  the  same  distance 
nearly  north. 

14,  Besides  the  seven  cities  forming  the  sites  of 
the  famous  seven  churches  of  Asia,  there  are  two 
others  to  be  noticed,  Colosse  and  Hierapolis.  The 
former  was  written  to  by  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to 
the  Colossians.  Nothing  remains  but  a  few  frag- 
ments of  broken  columns  and  building  stones. 

Hierapolis  received  its  name  from  its  remarka- 
ble hot  springs.  At  one  place  the  deadly  gas  (car- 
bonic dioxide)  exhaled  from  the  opening  of  a  cave 
where  the  spring  was  located,  and  this  exhalation 
caused  death  to  animals  and  men.  This  fact  origi- 
nated the  superstition  that  some  divinity  presided 
over  the  city,  and  hence  it  became  called  Hierapolis, 
"  the  holy  city."  About  the  time  of  the  apostles 
there  was  so  great  an  abundance  of  the  water  supply 
that  baths  were  built  in  every  part  of  the  city.  The 
waters  are  so  heavily  charged  with  lime  that  they 
deposit  stalactites  and  stalagmites  in  every  direction, 
and  the  whiteness  of  the  rock  and  ground  over 
which  the  waters  flow  is  so  general  that  the  place 
may  be  seen  at  a  great  distance,  and  because  of  its 
dazzling  whiteness  it  receives  the  name  of  Pembouk 
Kalessi,  "  Cotton  Castle."  It  is  only  mentioned  in 
Col.  4:13. 


312  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   GEOGRAPHY. 

The  apostle  John,  who  outlived  the  rest  of  the 
apostles,  seems  to  have  had  a  special  interest  in 
those  seven  churches  of  Asia.  He  is  said  to  have 
exercised  a  pastoral  care  over  them  all,  but  at  some 
time  after  the  death  of  Paul  he  went  to  Ephesus  and 
dwelt  there.  He  was  banished"  to  Patmos,  probably 
by  the  Emperor  Domitian,  A.  D.  95,  where  he  wrote 
the  Revelation. 

PATMOS. 

This  little  rugged  island  was  used  as  a  place  of 
banishment  of  Roman  criminals.  It  is  32  miles 
west  of  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  and  is  rocky  and 
barren  and  about  28  miles  in  circumference.  It  has 
a  port  on  the  east  where  is  a  deep  indentation.  The 
population  at  present  is  4,000,  all  Greeks  and  a  sea- 
faring people.  On  a  height  above  the  principal  town 
is  a  large  convent,  resembling  a  fortress,  where  are 
said  to  be  some  valuable  manuscripts. 

On  his  return  from  banishment  John  went  back 
to  Ephesus,  where  he  died  at  the  great  age  of  95, 
A.  D.  100.  He  was  known  to  the  last  as  the  Holy 
Theologian,  and  the  present  name  of  the  little  vil- 
lage, Ayasoluk,  near  Ephesus,  is  the  Turkish  form  of 
the  Greek  Hagios-Theologos,  the  Holy  Theologian. 


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